


Twin Sized Mattress

by Insertpoetryhere



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Based off a song, Gen, M/M, Multiple chapters, Physical/psychological abuse, everyone is human, lotor is a dick, past Keith/Lotor, please be careful reading this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2018-12-21 07:13:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 22
Words: 35,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11939001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insertpoetryhere/pseuds/Insertpoetryhere
Summary: After a fight with his boyfriend goes horribly wrong , Keith finds himself in the company of Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro, a handful of strangers who quickly become almost like family to him. Shiro is bent and determined to help Keith through this, but will that be enough?





	1. The Broken-Down Wires

**Author's Note:**

> This is highkey based off the song Twin Sized Mattress by The Front Bottoms. Please go check it out.

There's nothing quite like walking into a Seven Eleven at 3 in the morning to make someone feel utterly hopeless. Keith knew that feeling all too well as he opened the glass doors and stepped into the blinding florescent light. He wasn't sure why he was here of all places. Well… He knew why.

His fight with his boyfriend still rang in his ears, causing him to fight back the urge to punch the chip display next to him. Instead, he opted to slamming the door shut behind him just hard enough to let out his stress but not hard enough to break anything. The cashier looked up in surprise, eyes wide.

“ Bad day?” She asked him, adjusted her big, round, wire rimmed glasses, and gave him an awkward smile. He’d seen her here a few times after some other fights he and Lotor had, and she always gave him a discount despite not really knowing the situation. With that being said, Keith had always tried his best to regard her kindly no matter what mood he was in.

But tonight he couldn't even muster up a smile, and his look in her direction turned into a glare that made her flinch back a little. She only watched silently as he headed back to the alcohol section.

He sighed as he carelessly grabbed something out of the fridge, not particularly worried about what it was at this point. Anything with the capability of making forget about tonight for a little bit would work. He dragged a 6 pack of whatever over to the front of the gas station, trying to block out the thoughts in his head with the shitty rendition of True Colors playing over the fuzzy speakers.

“Can… I see an I.D.?” The girl behind the counter asked cautiously. Keith complied silently, taking his driver's license out of his pocket and handing it over. She nodded, giving in a quick glance and ringing him up. As he reached into his pocket, he felt his phone vibrate. One look at the name on the screen had his emotions reeling in every way. Lotor.

He looked up at the cashier apologetically, and she gave him a smile.

“Don't worry,” She said “I can tell it's important.” He gave her a nod and with a bit of hesitation, accepted the call.

“Hello?” His voice sounded weaker than he had wanted it to, but Lotor didn't seem to pay much attention.

“Hey babe…” The nickname made Keith wince. “Listen, Keith, I know we both said things we didn't mean. Let's just forget it, ok?”

Keith remembered the last time the “just forgot it”. Everything went back to the way it was before. He never even tried to change.

“... No, we need to talk about this.” He mustered up enough confidence to say what he had been thinking for months out loud, and immediately` regretted it.

He could hear the frown in Lotor’s voice. “I don't want to talk about it. Listen Keith, we’ve been over this. Talking doesn't do anything. If this is going to work you need to just trust me.” Keith’s breath caught in his throat as he choked down nerves. If he was going to say it, it had to be now. It was the only way to salvage whatever was left of this relationship.

“We can't be together if you… Aren't willing to talk.” His hesitation seemed to have made his statement laughable since that is exactly what Lotor did.

“You can't be serious, baby. I told you, talking to you about these problems is a waste of my time. You have better things you could be doing than arguing with me.” He paused for a second. “Just tell me where you are and I’ll come get you. I’ll forget all about what happened if you just come home. We’ll both say we’re sorry, we’ll clean up the broken glass on the floor, and then we’ll just go to bed. Everything will be ok in the morning. It will be like nothing happened.”

The broken glass… Keith’s hand went up to the lump that stood out prominently on his red sweatshirt, feeling the hastily wrapped bandages. He remembered the fear he felt when Lotor’s anger had turned to pure rage as he grabbed the closest thing to him, a glass vase, and went to strike him on the side of the head. Keith had managed to move quick enough so that it had only managed to hit his shoulder, but the intent was still there.

“... No. Not until we talk.” His strength had come back to him for a split second, only made more clear by the stunned silence on the other end of the phone.

“... You’re nothing without me. No one else will want you. I’m your only chance at love. Now stop being stupid and tell me where you are before I come out and find you myself.” Keith stayed silent. “... You don't have anywhere to go. You don't have anyone who will take you in. I'm the only person who cares about you.”

Keith felt his chest clench tightly. He was right. If he left him he would have nowhere to go… But at the same time, was it worth it to going back to being Lotor’s sex doll? He knew that's all he was to him, and that it was all he would ever be.

“I’ve already made up my mind, Lotor. Either talk or we’re through.” His voice didn't tremble this time, and was now loud enough to grab the cashier’s attention. The voice on the other end of the line paused once more.

“I'm on my way to come find you. Don't expect a warm welcome when I get there.” With that, Lotor hung up, leaving a now terrified Keith standing there in the middle of a gas station feeling completely vulnerable. He practically jumped out of his skin when he heard the cashier clear her throat,

“I couldn't help but um… Overhear your conversation…” She shifted her posture so that she was now fully facing him. “Who were you talking to?”

Keith stopped and stared at the girl for a second, not sure of what to say. “Oh, um… That was my uh… that was just my boyfriend.” He tried his best to sound calm and hoped that the cashier would stop asking questions. She nodded skeptically.

“And is everything ok between you two?” There it was. The dreaded question. Keith never knew why complete strangers would ask him this. Did they really expect to get an honest answer?

Keith looked her in the eyes and tried his best to smile “Yeah, we just got into a little fight. Nothing big though, he’s actually on his way to come pick me up.”

“Oh… Alright.” One look at her told Keith that she didn't believe a word he said, but still she nodded and the two stood in awkward silence for a few seconds.

“So um… What do I owe you?” He said, gesturing towards the 6 pack on the counter and taking out his wallet. The cashier just shook her head.

“It’s on the house.” She pushed it towards him carefully as he stood flustered and unsure of what to do.

“Wow, uh… Thanks…” Keith craned his neck trying to see the girl’s name tag. “... Pidge.”

Pidge just smiled at him. “No problem… Stay safe alright?”

Keith only nodded in response, but before he could make his way to the door, Pidge stopped him again.

“Hey, so um… It's kinda cold out tonight, so I'm gonna have to ask you to wait inside. You know… Company policy and such.” Keith though it was strange. It was only early October. He had been here in mid January and no one had ever told him they had to have him wait inside. Still, he complied and leaned against the wall, keeping his eyes glued to the window.

He sat there for about 15 minutes when the door opened. Keith tensed up for a second, but immediately relaxed when he saw it wasn't Lotor. Instead, standing at the door was a tall, athletic man wearing a black cardigan and a pair of light jeans. His hair was mostly black, except for a small chunk in the front which was dyed a brilliant white. He was handsome, and somehow the scar across his nose added to that effect.

Keith looked away when his eyes met the other man’s, but glanced back over when he turned around. He was whispering to Pidge about something. Keith didn't think much of it until suddenly the mystery man’s focused shifted to him. He nearly stopped breathing as he turned around and began walking towards him.

“Hey.” He greeted in a sweet voice. “I'm Shiro. May I ask your name?” 

Keith looked the guy up and down before deciding it was alright to speak. “I'm Keith.” Shiro gave him a lopsided smile.

“Keith… I like that.” He leaned against the wall next to him. “Well Keith, my friend Pidge is worried about you… More specifically your safety. She says you come in here a lot, and more often than not you have some sort of cut or bruise… She also mentioned how she overheard a less than pleasant conversation you had with your… Boyfriend…”

Keith’s hand slowly went and touched his shoulder, a gesture that did not go unnoticed by Shiro. 

“I see…” He frowned. “Listen, I'll cut the therapist crap because I'm sure people give you that kinda shit a lot. I'm sure you don't want us to get the police involved, but we can't sit here and do nothing… Do you need a place to stay for a little bit?”

Keith looked up at Shiro, his face mixed with shock and suspicion. This had to be some kind of joke… Right? 

Then again… If it wasn't… Then maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. Considering the fact that their last conversation ended in a threat… He probably did need a place to stay.

But what if Lotor found out? He’d be dead for sure…

Either way, Lotor would end up finding him.

He’d hurt him no matter what he chose… But one option gave him a chance to get away. 

He looked back up at Shiro and gave him a quick nod. “Please…”

Shiro smiled at him as he gently took him by the hand and lead him over to where Pidge was waiting. She smiled at him and the two strangers lead Keith to their car. Keith sat quietly in the back seat as the car started, looking out the window. They pulled out of the parking spot and Keith’s breath hitched as he spotted a familiar car passing them. Quickly, he shrank back into his seat.

If either of the other passengers in the car noticed, they didn't say a word.


	2. The Flood Water Won't Be Clear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the positive comments on the last chapter :)

Keith had trouble believing that two people could have made this big of a mess in such a small space. Half empty glasses and bottles of soda were scattered everywhere, paper plates had piled up on the coffee table, miscellaneous socks were strewn across the floor along with varying sizes of shirts, and a mysterious green stain that was on the carpet right by his feet. The couch was a mess of blankets and pillows thrown together so that you couldn't even see the couch anymore. 

He looked over at Shiro and saw that he was just as disgusted as Keith was. He gave an exasperated sigh. “I thought Hunk said he was going to clean before he left for work…”

“He probably did.” Pidge entered behind them, closing the door and wrinkling her nose at the mess of an apartment. “But then Lance was left in here for two hours completely unsupervised.”

“You seriously think Lance could do all of this within 2 hours?” Shiro picked up one of the socks that was by his foot, held to a bit too close to his face, and immediately started gagging.

Pidge raised an eyebrow. “You seriously think he couldn't?” She then turned to Keith. “Sorry, uh… Lance and Hunk are our other two roommates. They… Aren't the best at keeping things clean.”

“Correction, Lance isn't good at keeping things clean.” Shiro groaned. Keith nodded. He didn't know who Lance was, but from the looks of it, he needed Christ… And a shit ton of Clorox.

“Speak of the devil…” Shiro muttered, pulling out his ringing phone out of his pocket.

“Put him on speaker!” Pidge pushed Keith out of the way to get closer to the phone. Keith stood awkwardly, not really sure what to do.

“Hey assholes!” The voice on the other side of the line (also known as Lance) chirped. “Hunk and I just got off work and we’re headed to Starbucks for a little 4 in the morning pick-me-up, you want anything?”

“Yeah, I want to know what the fuck happened to the living room.” Shiro dead panned. “It seems to have been replaced with a landfill.” 

“Oh, come on. I barely even made a mess.” It was now clear to Keith that Christ would not be able to help this boy if he considered the room he was standing in as not messy. “Anyway, if you want something speak now.”

“Fine, I’ll have a chocolate chip mocha.” Shiro turned to Pidge. 

“I want a double espresso!” Pidge pushed Shiro’s face out of the way so she was now yelling directly into the phone.

“She wants hot chocolate.” Shiro pulled the phone away and looked over to Keith standing awkwardly in the corner. “You want anything, Keith?”

Before he could answer, Lance quickly intervened. “Wait, who’s Keith?” Another voice (probably Hunk) started speaking, but he couldn't be heard over the phone’s static. “Listen man, if I'm not allowed to have anyone over because it’s ‘indecent’ then you can't either. This is a two way street, buddy.”

“Um… I'm good, you don't have to get me anything.” Keith shook his head, but still appreciated the offer.

“You sure?” Shiro cocked his head to the side a little and Keith nodded. “Alright, well you guys get the coffee and come home. Pidge and I will help Keith settle in.”

“Use protection!” Shiro rolled his eyes and hung up.

“I promise they aren't this shitty in person.” He said with a smile, putting his phone into his pocket. Pidge scoffed.

“Don't lie to him.” She smiled, then started towards the hallway. “I’m gonna go change out of my work clothes. Be back soon.” Shiro nodded at her and then turned back to Keith.

“So um… Room is pretty tight, this apartment only has two bedrooms, so we kinda have to double up… There are only two beds in each room, so you might have to share with someone else…” He trailed off for a bit, realizing exactly how awkward his request was. Keith just smiled and looked back up at him.

“It’s fine, I’ll just sleep on the couch.” Keith jerked his head into the direction of the pile of blankets and pillows. Shiro frowned.

“No, I can't let you sleep on the couch, that’d be really uncomfortable…” Shiro paused. “Plus who knows what's in that pile of shit…” 

“Oh…” Keith shifted awkwardly. He wasn't really comfortable with sharing a bed with any of these total strangers… Then again, he also shouldn't feel comfortable with living with said total strangers… Nothing about this situation was normal.

Before they could really talk about it anymore, the door opened and in stormed two guys. 

“Guess who, bitches!” The smaller one yelled, nearly dropping the cardboard tray of assorted coffees and teas.

“Careful, Lance!” The other guy dove down and caught a few tipping cups before they were able to spill.

“Way to go, numb nuts.” Pidge emerged from her room in a green tank top and black pair of shorts with aliens on them. She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms.

“Oh haha, so funny. Come get your drink, asshole.” Lance sneered, putting the tray down and taking off his green hoodie and revealing a blue baseball tee. The other on, Hunk, was the first one of the two to notice him.

“Oh, hey, you must be Keith.” He smiled and walked over to him. This introduction seemed to catch Lance’s attention.

“Oh, so you’re Keith.” He smiled and then looked at Shiro and gave him a thumbs up. Shiro just rolled his eyes.

“It’s not like that Lance. He just needed a place to stay.” Shiro assured him. Lance gave a hum of approval.

“So what I’m hearing is that he’s available?” Lance flashed Keith a smile. 

Keith just laughed awkwardly. “Actually… I have a boyfriend.” He smiled awkwardly. Pidge and Shiro shifted uncomfortably at the mention of Lotor, and Keith immediately regretted bringing him up. Lanced just laughed with him.

“It’s ok, I'm just messing with you.” He smiled and stuck his hand out for a handshake. “The name’s Lance, and the big guy over there is Hunk.”

Hunk waved and gave him a smile. “Nice to meet you.” His smile fell a little and he looked at Shiro. “Um… Where is he going to sleep, exactly?”

“Well, that's what we were just talking about that…” Shiro stepped forward. “We decided that he wasn't going to sleep on the pile of Lance’s shit, since we still have no clue what he did to our couch. So he’ll have to share a room with two of us.”

Lance was the first one to speak. “Well, your’s and Pidge’s room is the biggest, so that one won’t be as tight of a squeeze.”

Hunk was next. “Yeah, and we have that little blow up mattress in the hallway closet.”

Shiro smiled at him. “That’ll work.”

Now it was Pidge’s turn to speak. “Just a warning, he snores.” Shiro gently jabbed her in the side with his elbow.

“Alright, let’s drink our coffees-” Lance stopped for a second and looked at Pidge. “-And other assorted hot beverages. The sooner we do, the sooner we can stay awake all night and regret our life choices!”

Drinks were passed around, and much to Keith’s surprise, Hunk handed one to him. “I felt bad for not getting you one , so I just got regular black coffee. There’s creamer and stuff in the kitchen.”

Keith took the cup and eyed it carefully. “Oh, um.. Thanks, but I'm not really a fan of coffee…”

This immediately got Pidge’s attention, as she quickly slicked over, hot chocolate in hand. “You wanna trade?” 

“Um… Sure.” Pidge wasted no time grabbing at the cup in his hand and thrusting her untouched hot chocolate into Keith's hands before quickly backing away and hoping Shiro didn't see a thing.

Keith just smiled and looked at the rest of the group. Lance was telling a joke with exaggerated hand gestures. Hunk laughed a little and took a sip of his drink while Shiro just smiled. When he met Keith’s eyes, his smile widened and he gestured for him to join them. Keith smiled back and walked over to them. He was welcomed by the small group with open arms. Pidge followed him over and joined the conversation.

He calmly took a sip of his hot chocolate. He felt at peace.


	3. I Will Help You Swim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance, Hunk, and Pidge become wingmen, and Shiro decides to help Keith feel better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so we need ages!!!
> 
> Pidge: 18 (graduated early)
> 
> Lance: 20
> 
> Hunk: 20
> 
> Keith: 22
> 
> Shiro: 26 (started collage late so he could take a break)

The next morning came way too soon for an apartment full of sleep deprived young adults, all of them nursing some form of a caffeine hangover. All but Keith at least. Then again, his natural sleep deprived state still managed to blend in with everyone else.

“Morning.” Lance waved halfheartedly as he passed by the couch (where two spots big enough for Keith and Pidge had been cleared off).

“Oh shut the fuck up.” Pidge groaned from her blanket cocoon beside Keith, who just grunted in response with his head leaned back as far as it could go.. Hunk just looked up from his cereal and said nothing in response.

“Where the hell is Shiro?” Lance asked, looking around the room.

“He’s on one of his stupid 6 in the morning jogs.” Pidge whined, with Keith wincing at the memory of the loud alarm clock that woke him up at an ungodly hour in the morning. “Keith and I woke up to his stupid alarm in our stupid room because of his stupid health kick and his stupid face.”

“Stupid…” Keith mumbled angrily.

“Be careful you two, you might actually expand your vocabulary.” Lance shuffled over to the kitchen. “Who wants coffee?”

“You’re going to cure a caffeine crash with more caffeine?” Hunk raised an eyebrow. Lance just scoffed.

“Well duh. You cure hangovers with more alcohol, right? It’s the same difference.” Lance then took a large coffee mug and filled it to it’s brim.

“No Lance… That’s not right… You don't do that.” Hunk looked completely baffled, and decided to just turn his attention back to his cereal. Keith didn't blame him. He closed his eyes tighter and contemplated buying Lance a bible.

The all jumped a little when the door opened and Shiro walked in. “Good morning.” He smiled over at Keith. “How’d you sleep?”

“You woke him up with your stupid alarm, asshole. How do you think he slept?” Pidge glared at Shiro, her eyes either closed or narrowed angrily. Keith couldn't tell.

“Oh sorry, didn't think it would wake you guys up too.” Shiro gave a sheepish grin and then took a look at the clock. “You guys might want to get moving soon though, classes start soon.”

Lance groaned. “What if I just… Don't?” 

“May I remind you that you pay for these classes.” Hunk stated, heading into the kitchen to wash his cereal bowl. “And that I'm not going to deal with ‘cherry bomb’ over there fighting with Professor Iverson all alone.” He gestured towards Pidge, who removed her hand from her blanket burrito to flip him the bird.

“Ugh… Fine!” Lance dramatically dragged himself to their shared room to go get dressed. “Don't you dare leave without me, though.”

“I guess I should get ready too.” Hunk followed Lance and looked over his shoulder. “Pidge, do you plan on emerging any time soon?”

Pidge groaned and stood up (blankets and all) and shuffled her feet to her room uneventfully. Keith opened his eyes and suddenly realized that he and Shiro were the only ones in the room.

Trying to avoid awkward silence, Keith spoke first. “So… Where are they going, exactly?”

“Garrison University,” Shiro came over and sat next to him on the couch, putting the two uncomfortably close. Keith’s eyes widened a bit, but he nodded a little.

“I used to go there too…” He smiled a little bit, remembering his time at Garrison. This was way before Lotor, and he was actually pretty carefree and happy. Of course… That was kind of the problem.

“Me too!” Shiro smiled widely and turned so he was facing Keith. “I actually graduated last year… Wait, were you in my class?” Keith stayed silent… He didn't really know how to answer that, since that would have been his graduation if it hadn't been for… The incident.

“No… I don't think so.” Keith racked his brain trying to find something he could say to change the topic, when his phone rang. He fished it out of his pocket, but the moment he saw the caller I.D., he froze.

“What’s wrong?” Shiro asked. He looked over Keith’s shoulder to see what was going on. His eyes met what Keith was looking at, and he frowned. “That’s him isn’t it?”

Keith nodded as they both looked at Lotor’s incoming call. Keith found himself completely frozen in his seat. What was he going to do? What was he going to say?

Before he could decide, Shiro gently took the phone out of his hand and hit the “ignore call” button.

“Don't let him get to you, alright?” He asked softly. Keith nodded again, starting to come down from his mini panic attack. Shiro smiled again, this time much softer. “Hey, how about we get out of a little? Where do you want to go?”

Keith looked back up at Shiro, confused. Why was he being so nice to him? He barely knew him.

“Um… I don't really know. I don't really get out much. Lotor doesn't-” He cut himself off. “I just don't get out that much.” Shiro nodded.

“Well, Downtown has a lot of miscellaneous cafes and stores and such, we can go check that out.” Shiro suggested.

“Thanks, but I don't have any money…” Keith said sheepishly. 

“Don't worry about it, I’ve got it covered.” Shiro pulled out his wallet. Keith was quick to protest.

“No, you’ve already done a lot, you don't have to buy me anything!” He held his hands up as a way to say no, but Shiro wasn’t having it.

“I know I don't have to, but I want to.” He stood up. “Plus, you don't have any extra clothes, so we’re gonna have to get you something. As warm as that sweatshirt must be, you can't wear it everyday.”

Keith could tell that he wasn't going to win when Shiro headed into the bathroom to take a shower. 

“That was adorable.” Keith jumped when he heard Lance’s voice from behind him. He was leaning up against a wall, wearing a blue sweatshirt with “Garrison Lions” and a cartoonish blue lioness on it, paired up with a pair of skinny jean cut khakis. “Really, you guys might as well just get married now.”

Keith rolled his eyes and crossed his arms defensively. “It’s not like that…”

“So what are you gonna wear?” Lance asked, beaming from ear to ear. Keith looked up, confused.

“What’s wrong with what I have on?” Lance looked him up and down as he stood there in a pair of jeans and a red sweatshirt. Lance sighed.

“Just...Come on.” He took Keith by the wrist and lead him to his and Hunk’s shared room. Keith, both confused and slightly terrified by what Lance means, tenses up.

“Relax, we just look like we might be the same size. I’m gonna loan you something to wear.” He opened the door, causing a shirtless Hunk to flip out.

“Dude, privacy-” 

“-Doesn't exist in this apartment!” Lance cut him off. He let go of Keith’s wrist and shoving him so that he was sitting on the bed. “Besides, we have a project to work on here.”

Hunk looked over at Keith, who waved awkwardly, and beamed.

“I’ll text Pidge and tell her to take care of Shiro!” He pulled out his phone, typed something, and quickly went to the closet to help Lance sift through shirts, jeans, and jackets. Keith looked over at the door, contemplating making a run for it. Something told him that this was going to be torture.

========

“Hey, Shiro! You’re out of the shower!” Pidge grabbed a very confused Shiro clad only I boxers by the hand and practically pulled him into their room, causing him to trip over the air mattress on the floor.

“Um, Pidge, what are you d-” He got pushed into the chair by Pidge’s desk as she went over to his closet and started rummaging through it. “Hey, what’s going on?” His voice showed actual fear. In his experience, it was never good when an 18 year old pushes you into a chair and starts going through your clothes. It always ended with him becoming a human dress up doll.

“I’m helping you!” She chucked a t-shirt, blazer, and a pair of black jeans at him. “Now hurry up, they're probably almost done getting Keith ready, and you need to be out there first so it isn't awkward.”

“Wait, what?” Shiro stood up so quickly that the clothes on his lap fell to the floor. Pidge glared at him while she went through his small collection of body sprays.

“You’re little date with Keith? Did you forget?” She turned her attention back to the bottles in her hand. “God, all of these suck. Why do you have so much off brand Ax?”

“Ok, first off, never insult a man’s body spray.” Shiro pulled on the Rolling Stones t-shirt. “And second, it’s not a date. I’m trying to help him get his mind off of his boyfriend for a bit. Not exactly a good time to pull any moves.”

“So you don't deny wanting to go on a date with him?” Pidge smirked. Shiro turned red. 

“I barely know him!” He half yelled, tripping as he tried to put on the jeans. Pidge laughed, finally holding the best cologne she could find. Her smile softened as she now approached a fully clothed Shiro.

“Ok, maybe don't get all romantic… But also don't block out any chances that you might have. You deserve to be happy too.” She sprayed a little bit of the liquid on him and then put it down. She stepped back a little. “You look good.”

Shiro looked in the mirror that was stood up next to the closet. He had to admit, Pidge did a good job. He never knew that a blazer and a band t-shirt would look so good together. Pidge nodded at her handiwork and threw on her own cardigan over her white tank top and it’s matching beanie.

“I think we might both be ready!” She chirped. Opening the door, she winked back at Shiro. “Go get ‘em, tiger!”

Shiro nodded and went to go sit on the small space still cleared off on the couch. It wasn't long before Keith came out too. Shiro had to give credit to Hunk and Lance. Keith looked great.

He had on white American Authors shirt with a simple red, unbuttoned sweater and a pair of black skinny jeans. He smiled awkwardly and waved at Shiro.

“You wanna get going?” Keith asked, suddenly very eager to get away from the pair behind him. They didn't seem to care as they gave Shiro two sets of thumbs up.

“Yeah, sure.” Shiro agreed. “Also, if you losers want to actually be on time, you need to go too. You took up quite a bit of time.”

“You are welcome!” Lance said as they passed by, bags in hand. The door closed and Keith and Shiro decided to wait a second before leaving.

“Sorry about them… They get excited.” Shiro scratched the back of his neck nervously. Keith laughed.

“Yeah, I could tell…” He trailed off a little. “So.. Shall we get going then?”

“Oh, um yeah!” Shiro picked up his shoes and started pulling them on. When that was done, he went to open the door, gesturing for Keith to go first.

As the two left, Shiro couldn't help but think about what Pidge had said…

Was that weird?


	4. An Ammount to Take

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Shiro further their relationship, meanwhile Lotor conducts a plan to get Keith back under any means nessicary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning:  
> This will start off with Lotor's POV, so it will be telling his side of the story. This is not meant to condone his actions in any way. It is only supposed to give him an actual character and give readers a view inside of the way he thinks.

“Hi, this is Keith. I can't come to the phone right now, If you could leave a detailed message I will get to you as soon as I can. Thank you.” The long, droning beep coming from his phone cued Lotor to get his message across.

“Hey babe, it's me… I've been worried.” Lies. “You didn't come home last night.” Because of him. “Listen, I promise it will be different this time.” No it won't. “Just come home.” He won't do it this time. “... I love you.”

The last part was not necessarily a lie. While maybe love wasn't the right word for it, he did feel dependent on Keith. It was the same way an addict “loved” heroin. He hated what he was doing, but he would absolutely go insane without him. He didn't love him in the way he was supposed to, but he needed him.

It shouldn't excuse the way he treats him, but for some reason he doesn't feel guilty. He knows it's bad, he knows Keith deserves better, but he also doesn't seem to care. Being with Keith is the only time he doesn't have to think with logic and still suffer no consequences. At least… Until now.

Keith always came back after their fights, even the ones that had been much worse than just a little cut on his shoulder. There have been times when he’s come back with a broken arm and still had no complaints. That made sense, since he had nowhere to go… But that begs the question; where was he now?

Lotor’s thoughts immediately went to him being with another man, and he filled up with rage. It seemed to be the only other option. Keith didn't have any living family or close friends that he could stay with… Lotor had checked many times. However, Keith was pretty attractive. It wouldn't be hard for him to charm his way into someone’s apartment… By any means necessary.

The thought of someone else going near him was enough to make Lotor’s anger boil over. He hit his hand against the sink in front of him as hard as he could, too ashamed of the fact that he was imagining his own boyfriend in it’s place. He took a shaky breath and looked in the mirror only for his heart to stop for a second. He was starting to understand, and it made him hate it even more.

If he had seen the face looking back at him right now, he would have run away too.

========

“So… Where do you want to go first?” Shiro asked awkwardly as he and Keith strolled down Main Street. Keith looked over at him.

“I'm actually kind of hungry…” He answered honestly, giving his companion a sheepish smile. Shiro nodded, feeling his stomach growl.

“Yeah… Well, lucky for you, your guide knows the perfect place to stop for lunch!” He excitedly took him by the hand and half dragged him around corners and across streets until they reached a quaint little cafe on the corner of Oak and Campus.

“Altea Cafe?” Keith read the sign. He remembered how as an apology, Lotor had taken him here. The food was amazing, but he also remembered how terrible the staff had treated Lotor. They didn't seem to mind Keith though. In fact, they seemed to be trying to be extra nice to him. Looking back, it probably had something to do with the ugly, green bruise he had on his cheek at the time.

“You know it?” Shiro’s eyes lit up. Keith cut his response to to a curt nod.

“Yeah, I think I've been here once…” He trailed off a little. “Let's just go inside and get a seat.” If Shiro noticed the stiffness in his voice, then he didn't say anything as he excitedly led Keith into the little restaurant and plopped him down in a booth next to the window.

“The tuna melt is really good.” Shiro said as he browsed the menu. Keith had to giggle a little about how excited Shiro was to be here. It was obvious that he came here a lot. 

Though, in all honesty, Keith couldn't blame him. It was a nice place, and the atmosphere was just overall welcoming. In it’s own ways, it almost reminded him of the apartment. It was small, crowded, and a little bit messy, but it also just came with this sense of belonging.

“What can I get you today?” A cheerful voice cut Keith out of his thoughts. He looked up at the waitress and he had to say, he was taken by surprise. She was really pretty… Like… Really pretty. She had warm brown skin that perfectly contrasted her light blue eyes and long white hair that she had tied in a bun. She just radiated this aura of universal, confident beauty that could make the gayest of men (Keith) stop and stare. The most shocking thing is that Shiro seemed mostly unaffected by this.

“Hey, Allura! I didn't know you were working today!” He greeted cheerfully, leaning his cheek on his palm. Allura looked up from her notepad and smiled at him.

“I'm always working. In fact, I'm more surprised that you aren't here alone!” She gave him a sly wink, making both guys shift nervously in their seats.

“So um.. Allura, this is Keith, Keith, this is Allura.” One look at her face when she turned to him could tell him that she recognized him, but she didn't say anything.

“Hello.” Her voice turned softer and sweeter than it had been before, dripping with pity and… Relief? She stuck her hand out for Keith to shake. “It's nice to meet you.”

Normally, this kind of treatment would offend Keith, but coming from her it just seemed more sincere. He carefully shook her hand.

“Um… Hi. And er… Same.” He stuttered a little bit, his social awkwardness getting the best of him. Nevertheless, Allura beamed widely, seeming pleased that he responded at all.

“Whelp, what can I get for you boys today?” She asked, looking back over to Shiro. 

“Oh, um… I’ll just have my usual.” Crap… There goes ordering the same thing as him instead of awkwardly looking the menu over again. Allura looked over to him and he froze.

“Oh, um… I-I'll have the um…” He quickly glanced at the menu once more, picking out the first thing he saw. “The Mobster.”

Both of them looked up at him with wide eyes. Allura was the first one to speak

. “That’s… A lot of food. Are you sure you want that?” Fuck. Well… It was too late to back out now.

“... Yeah.” His voice cracked and Shiro seemed to get an idea of what was going on. He gave Keith a reassuring smile.

“Actually, I think we’ll just split a mobster. Good idea Keith.” Keith just gave an awkward thumbs up that he immediately regretted.

“Alright, and to drink?” Both of them ordered Dr. Peppers and Allura excused herself to go get their food.

“Thanks for saving me from social suicide back there…” He turned to Shiro, still a little bit red from embarrassment. Shiro shrugged.

“No problem, I get it. It happens to me all the time.” Keith could tell that was bullshit, but appreciated his lie anyway. The two chatted about mundane topics until their food got here.

Allura had not been lying… That was a lot of food.

The sandwich that had been placed in front of them was a little longer than Shiro’s arm, and probably just as wide around. It was probably a large pot’s worth of spaghetti and meatballs, with melted mozzarella all stuffed into a sub-style sweet bun. No way were they gonna finish it.

“Corral heard you had a date and decided to pull a Lady and the Tramp and… Upgrade your order…”She gave them a sympathetic smile.

“Oh, um…” There was a slight squeak to Shiro’s voice as he got up slowly. “I'm just gonna go… Check and see how big the take out boxes are…” 

His eyes didn't really leave the table as he walked away, but once he was out of earshot, Allura turned to him.

“Hey, I don't know if you remember me… But I waited on you last time you were here. You were with your… Boyfriend. I just wanted to say that I’m happy you're out of that situation. I've known Lotor for a little too long than I’d like to admit, and I know he isn't a good person. I haven't known Shiro for as long, but I can tell you he has a heart of gold, and would never hurt you. He… Has his own emotional baggage too.” She smiled warmly. “I can tell you're happier. Ha, last time you were here, you only ordered a grilled cheese… You didn't even finish it. You were so pale too, and you looked like you hadn't slept in months. You look so much better now.” Keith noticed how she carefully she had avoided mentioning the bruise he had last time and appreciated it. However, before he could correct her on her misconception about their relationship, Shiro came back to the table.

“Alright, good news.” He beamed at Keith. “We will actually be able to take this home with us. Bad news is Pidge will almost definitely take it from us the first chance she gets… You happened to have ordered her favorite.” 

Allura laughed. “I’ve got to go take care of the other customers, tell everyone else I said hi, and tell Pidge we still need her to come in and help us fix our computer system.”

“Will do, Princess.” Shiro teased. Allura rolled her eyes and excused herself to go and help another couple who had just entered the cafe.

The rest of their trip went along pretty uneventfully. The two both ate a small portion of their sandwich, spent about 10 minutes trying to fit it into a box it could barely fit into (Shiro was determined to not have to carry two boxes out), and left the restaurant with a quick wave at Allura. The two headed back down Main Street and looked at the little shops, the remains of their Dr. Pepper in hand. They passed by shop after shop. Keith was actually surprised that the prices for clothes really weren't all that bad. Still, he tried to restrict himself to clearance racks and second hand shops.

In all honesty though, his haul wasn't too bad. A few miscellaneous band shirts, some jeans, a Gryffindor tank top, a few pairs of shorts, a fresh packet of boxers, and a few pairs of sweatpants.

The prices were actually so good that they even managed to get everyone else something too.

When Keith got his Gryffindor tank top, they saw a smaller, matching Slytherin one hiding behind it. They both looked at each other and Shiro just said “Pidge.” It was more than enough to convince the two to put it in the pile of clothes.

They found a pink, yellow, and blue striped bandana that Shiro had explained was the pan flag. He smiled and commented on how Lance would like that, immediately putting it into the pile as well. 

 

At another store, the two saw a pair of yellow headphones. Shiro made a comment about how hunk just broke his, followed by Keith grabbing them and sarcastically adding in “If he lives with you guys, he's gonna need these.”

On their way back, Shiro made Keith stop at this little cart on the street that was selling bubble tea. He didn't really know what it was, but Shiro wasn't going to leave without getting them some.

“It’s really a beautiful night.” Shiro whispered, looking at the sunset and sipping this strawberry drink. Keith had to agree. All the shops and cafes had a beautiful orange hue to them, which just perfectly matched with the colorful leaves that decorated the trees and sidewalks. The street lamps were starting to turn on, but still looked dim in the pale sunlight. He took another sip of his tea, enjoying the beauty of everything in front of them. The streets were practically empty as they walked home, but he could still feel Shiro holding onto his hand like he was doing when they had been pushing through the crowded streets earlier.

Neither of the two seemed to mind though. In fact, the extra warmth was welcomed as the breeze started to get a little bit chilly. 

It seemed to Keith that them walking back home with the wind turning their cheeks pink was just the best ending to a perfect day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, with school starting for me in the next few days. I won't be able to update as much as I've been able to. Except only a few updates a week at best, since I made the mistake of taking all accelerated classes... Pray for me please.


	5. Reasons to Take More

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically fun Lance and Keith Platonic bonding with a whole lot of hidden plot advancement, have fun!

“We’re back!” Shiro called out to the group of students nose deep in their textbooks. 

“‘Bout time.” Lance muttered. Shiro rolled his eyes, carefully took one of the bags from Keith’s hand, and held it over his head.

“And we got presents!” He called out. This got everyone’s attention, but it mainly attracted Lance, who then pushed his books the side and jumped a little.

“What’d ya get me?” His eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas. Shiro laughed and threw him the bandana from the bag, proceeding to do so with the other two.

“Wow, thanks!” Pidge held up her tank top with a huge grin on her face. Hunk picked up his headphones and smiled.

“Wow, thanks Shiro!” He ran his finger over the smooth plastic. Shiro puts his hands up in an almost surrender.

“Don't thank me, Keith picked out most of them.” Keith choked on his bubble tea slightly, kinda surprised Shiro would mention that… Mainly because it wasn't true. His main function in choosing these was smiling and nodding at whatever Shiro had suggested.

“Wow… Thanks man.” Lance looked up from his bandana with a soft smile, making Keith completely unable to tell him the truth.

“Um… Sure, no problem.” Keith gave an awkward thumbs up. Shiro smiled at him calmly, before holding up the take out box too.

“We also brought dinner… For the next week or so.” Shiro held up the take out box with both hands, almost dropping it in the process. Good thing Pidge was there to snatch it out if his hand and run into the kitchen so fast that she could give Sonic a run for his money. There goes the food.

“Guess we aren't eating.” Lance said exactly what Keith had been thinking, so he decided to be a good sport and nod in agreement.

“I have my doubts that even she could eat all of that.” Shiro didn't sound convinced at all. Hunk shrugged.

“Well… She's Italian… Maybe the pasta gives her more energy.” Hunk guessed.

“How did you know it had pasta in it?” Shiro questioned, giving him a sideways glance. Hunk just shrugged again.

“You never finish the mobster. Like… Ever.” Hunk replied. Shiro scratched at the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Shit… You're right.” Pidge exited the kitchen, causing all heads to turn.

“You… Ate that already? How?” Keith looked horrified. This girl had the overall structure of a 5 year old… That sandwich had to have weighed as much as she did, if not more. She rolled her eyes.

“I didn't eat it, I just put it away… It was tempting, but then I remembered that you guys got me a shirt. This bitch knows loyalty.” Pidge did the finger guns and walked over to the couch pile… Seriously, when did anyone plan on cleaning that up?

“Well… Anyone want Chinese food? I can't eat anymore of that sandwich… I will die.” Keith wished he was being over dramatic… But he legit thought he would spontaneously combust if he took another bite of that specific sandwich. He’d die.

“Question… How Asian do you get?” Lance raised an eyebrow. Keith scoffed.

“Depends, how racist do you get?” Keith shot back. Lance shrugged.

“I'm Cuban, I get a pass.” He leaned back on the wall, stealing the finger gun move from Pidge but executing it with less grace.

“That's not how that works… But ok.” Shiro muttered. “I'm all for Chinese food.”

“I second that!” Hunk yelled, raising his hand. “I just want food, not picky about what kind!” Lance shifted his shoulders.

“I guess I could eat. There’s that Happy Wok down the street, but I need someone to go with me.” He held up his finger dramatically. “Keith, get your shoes on.”

“Why Keith?” Shiro asked, crossing his arms. Lance rolled his eyes.

“Relax, beef cake, I'm not stealing your boyfriend… Yet.” Both Keith and Shiro choked on air, but for different reasons.

“Boyfriend? Oh god, not you too…” He seemed to be resisting the urge to facepalm.

“Beef cake?” Keith snickered a little. That had to be in the top ten best nicknames he’s ever heard. He made a mental note to start calling him that.

“Anyway, I'm bringing Keith because he is currently the only one of you that I trust to not drop the take out boxes on the way back.” Everyone just kinda nodded. It was a fair and logical reason. “Anyway, let's hurry. They’ll be closing soon.” Keith hesitated, but eventually agreed. Putting his shoes on to go outside for the second time today, he followed the other boy out the door.

=======

“Ok, so Shiro finally texted me what everyone wants.” Lance said as the two stood off to the side, trying not to hold up the line. “So… I never asked… Why are you staying with us?” Keith raised an eyebrow, feeling a little hurt. “Not like I don't enjoy you being around, but like… Most of the time people don't just come home with two total strangers and stay in their apartments… Ok well, they do, but not like the way you do.”

Keith didn't know exactly how to respond. On one hand, he didn't think that he really wanted to spill all of his deepest, darkest secrets to Lance, since he himself even called them practical strangers. On the other hand, it was obvious that Lance was a pretty smart guy. Keith didn't want to risk lying to him and being spotted. With both of these taken into account, he chose to settle with telling a vague truth.

“My boyfriend and I got into a little bit of a fight and I just… Left I guess.” He didn't mention the glass vase, or the treats, or the phone call he received afterwards. Lance looked as if he didn't understand, but nodded as if he did anyway. The two sat in calm silence… At least until….

“Keith?” A familiar voice called out, seemingly in shock. Keith turned around, slightly horrified. Standing there, looking at him with a mixture of disgust and confusion, was Acxa. She and Lotor had been best friends since they were little. “What the hell are you doing here? Lotor has been looking for you everywhere, you have him worried sick.”

Keith’s face paled. Her words hurt him in a way that it didn't seem like they should. Even though he knew that she didn't know the full story about what was going on with him and Lotor, he still suddenly felt like he had done something wrong. Lance noticed Keith tense up, and decided to add in.

“Keith… Who is this?” Lance’s voice grabbed Acxa’s attention and her blue eyes narrowed.

“So that’s what's going on…” She gave a dry laugh. “Wow… Unbelievable. He gave you everything, and after one little argument you go whoring yourself out to whoever was next. That's really all you are isn't it?” Keith looked down at the ground and took a step away from Lance, suddenly feeling guilty for standing too close to him. Lance’s eyes narrowed in anger and he quickly took a step to the side so that he had put himself directly in between the two.

“For your information, I’m his brother.” Lance lied. “And if I hear you call him a whore one more time, I can promise you that it will be the last thing you ever say.” Keith looked up in shock. What the hell was Lance doing?

“Brothers? Is that what they call it these days?” Acxa leaned over the side to glare at Keith, but Lance sidestepped and blocked her view once again.

“He’s staying with me, and if ‘he’ has a problem with that, then he can take it up with me personally. Not send you, not harass Keith, take it up with me.” Lance’s glare hardened as he took another step towards her.

Acxa made a “tsk” noise, and either deciding that they weren't worth her time (as Keith usually was) or that she had heard enough, she turned on her heels and stormed out of the small restaurant. Keith and Lance stood there for a second in complete silence.

“... Thanks.” Keith didn't know what to say. This was something no one had ever done for him. Lance just turned around to face him, letting his features soften once more.

“Yeah, no problem man…” He turned serious again. “Listen, I don't know all the details of your situation. I might never know. But I do know that you're safe with us, Pidge, Hunk, Shiro, and I would never let anyone hurt you. We’ve got your back, man.”

“Got my back…” The feeling in his chest was strangely familiar in a way that made it almost comforting, as where the hot tears forming in the corner of his eyes.

“Yeah, that's what friends are for.” Lance gave him a warm smile, and Keith suddenly put a name to the feeling in his chest. Trust.

“Um… Yeah… Buddy.” Keith awkwardly put out his fist, not realizing how awkward it was until it was too late. Still, Lance laughed a little and did not leave him hanging.

“We’ll work on it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was way too hard. I was writing it and suddenly realizing that I made Lance far too much of a background character considering the importance that he's gonna hold in later chapters. So I fixed it :)


	6. For the Sleepless Nights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angst awaits you... You have been warned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long, school and theater have been kicking my ass. On the bright side, I've gotten more into the swing of things, so I should return to the schedule that I had planned out a month ago. With that being said, I'll see you guys again sometime next week!

“I just thought you might want to know.” Acxa finished her statement in a lower voice. Lotor could only bring himself to nod.

“Thanks…” His voice was low and slightly broken. Keith didn't have a brother. He didn't even have a family.

That fact was one of the only reasons the two of them were even together.

\----------------

“You come here often?” Keith looked up from the beer he had been nursing for the past half an hour. The guy who was now sitting next to him had long light hair with olive skin and pretty amber eyes. Keith smiled at him teasingly.

“That is the worst pickup line I’ve ever heard in my life.” He laughed. The stranger just shrugged.

“The real question is if it worked?” The guy smiled again. “Because if so, there’s more where that came from.”

“Haha, I’m Keith.” He stuck his hand out for a handshake. The stranger took his hand and gave it a kiss.

“I’m Lotor.” Lotor winks. “Care for a dance?”

\-----------------

That was it. That night went exactly how you would imagine that kind of encounter at a club. The weird thing was that it was not the last time Keith would leave Lotor’s apartment early in the morning. The two seemed to gravitate towards one another, and while it wasn't anything serious, it was still the highlight of Lotor’s week.

Keith had been reckless and absolutely insane at times. He did things without thinking. He was failing all his classes, drinking his liver away, and he didn't care. He could have ended up in a casket at 19, and he wouldn't have cared.

Lotor loved it.

Being with Keith made him feel like he was a better person. He wasn't thinking about his parents, or his responsibilities. All he was thinking about was Keith. And he could have stayed like that forever.

… Life had other plans.

He left one morning, a little too tired, a little too high, or a little too hung over. Whatever it was didn't matter, because either way he still didn't see that car take that sharp turn.

Lotor still remembered the conversation on the phone. Keith had killed someone.

It was a random stranger, someone that neither of them had heard of, but the law didn't care. If it hadn't been for the bail money that Lotor had forked over, Keith would have been put in jail for manslaughter.

The bail money wasn't enough for Garrison University. This was Keith’s last chance, and they couldn't find any way to give him another. They sent him their deepest condolences as they signed the papers that would finally have him expelled.

He had nowhere to go. No friends, no family, no one. Well… Almost no one.

He was at Lotor’s door with his duffle bag of stuff, and Lotor found it hard to refuse.

But something was different. This wasn't the Keith Lotor knew. This Keith was skittish, paranoid, and quiet. And it pissed Lotor off. Nothing he could do for him would help… But some things he did to him would.

He knew it was wrong, but he couldn't help it. He was angry that he had lost the man he had at one point been so infatuated with.

It was ironic… He claimed to hate his father so much… Yet he was exactly like him.

This thought made him throw his phone onto the couch in anger. If he couldn't stop DNA, then he wasn't going to try. Instead, he decided to put all that energy into finding Keith… By any means necessary.

\--------------

Keith woke up at three in the morning, completely parched. His nose wrinkled in disgust at the discomfort that his dry mouth. He looked around the dark room, taking in what he could see from the dim glow of the Christmas lights that Pidge had hung up on her side of the room (“Aesthetic” she called it. Keith just called it “Too early for this shit, take it down before you summon the snow”.)

He saw Shiro turn slightly under the mess of his blankets and make a low grunt noise. He looked over to Pidge’s bed and saw a mass of blankets ruled up near a pillow. Assuming that it was Pidge, he looked over to the door. 

The dryness of his throat became more apparent as he stood up from his twin sized air mattress on the floor and gave a big yawn, which because of the fact that his mouth was about as dry as the freaking Sahara just made this strange noise that made Shiro flinch a little. Pidge remained still and unbothered though… Wow, she must really be a heavy sleeper.

Heading out of the bedroom door and down the hall, he entered the living room and beelined straight for the kitchen. Grabbing a small cup from the cupboard and filling it up to the very brim, he tipped the cup bottoms up and drank it in pretty much the same manner one would take a shot of vodka. He repeated this action a couple times before deciding that he was hydrated enough. 

He looked over at the clock hanging out on the other side of the room. God, it was 4 in the morning…

Deciding that sleep was probably now impossible, he headed back out into the living room. The remains of their Chinese food from last night were still scattered across the floor, including the big globs of rice that Lance and Hunk had been throwing back and forth. He sighed and turned the corner quickly, ready to sit on the couch… Wait, someone was already there?

“Pidge?” He looked back over at the bedroom door, heavily confused. He hadn't heard her get up. Pidge jumped up a little, sitting up straight.

“Keith! H-hi! Why are you up?” She half closed her laptop and gave him a nervous smile. He raised an eyebrow.

“I'd ask you the same thing…” He tried to tilt his head to see what she was looking at, but she fully closed it before he could see.

“Oh you know… Just browsing the Internet.” She leaned on the top of her closed computer. Keith gave her a concerned look, and it was enough to make her smile fall. She sighed in defeat and opened her laptop back up. “Alright… You caught me. Just… Don't tell Shiro.”

Keith looked at her screen. She was on the local police station’s missing person page, on a profile with the name Matthew Holt on it. She was scrolled too far up for Keith to see a picture, but he old see three other tabs open; two of them were other police station missing persons pages, and the other was a google search with the missing boy’s name. Before he could ask what it all was, Pidge spoke up.

“Do you ever know something is your fault… But you just don't want it to be true? Like… You just want to erase the consequences? And even though people tell you it's not, or blame themselves… You just know?” She looked at the screen with tears forming at the corners of her brown eyes. Keith was confused… At least until she scrolled down.

Matthew Holt was practically a carbon copy of Pidge Gunderson.

He understood suddenly. He remembered the way he felt during the crash, or how he felt when he woke up one morning and his dad was gone, or even when he was standing in the 7-11 at three in the morning only a few days ago. Instead of replying to Pidge's question, he enveloped her into a big hug, gently rubbing circles into her back as she cried into his shoulder. After a while, Keith decided to whisper his response softly, low enough that only she could hear it.

“Yeah… I do.”


	7. For the Warning Signs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one has some trigger warnings:  
> PTSD  
> Blood  
> References to violence   
> Please be careful

To say that things were changing would be a severe understatement. Keith could see it in the way he walked, in his reflection in the mirror, everything about him was just… different. 

The past few weeks had some of the strangest impacts, but none of them were necessarily bad. 

He felt like he could open up to Pidge, which was so strange and yet so comforting. Being able to tell someone what you’re actually thinking without being afraid that it would get you hurt was the best feeling in the world, and Keith just felt honored to finally be able to experience it.

Hunk was just an overall great person. Keith was pretty amazed by the amount of patience he had with everyone. He was even patient with Keith, despite the fact that he only had known him for a little under a month. 

Even Lance was comforting. Sure, he teased Keith relentlessly. But the difference is that Keith could tease him back. He didn’t have to worry about Lance hurting him, or going too far. It was just all in the name of good natured fun.

Then there was Shiro. God, where could he even start? Shiro… made him feel safe. And it wasn’t just because he was probably strong enough to throw a man to Jupiter without even trying (though that definitely did help), It was because of how secure he was. Anything you threw at him he could handle. Something about that security just made Keith feel like he was in good hands.

Kind of like that time that he almost cut his hand off.

The apartment had been empty for once, and Keith was bored… a dangerous combination. Obviously what better way to spend your time than to help chop vegetables unsupervised?

He got out the cutting board, a few carrots, what he was pretty sure was an onion, and started washing them off. He heard the door close, but chose to pay no attention as he aimed the knife above the cutting board and-

“Woah!” A voice called out, scaring Keith so much he dropped the knife. Shiro came walking over, throwing his keys onto the counter and picking up the knife Keith had dropped. He chuckled a little.

“You gotta be more careful, you almost sliced your finger off!” He laughed. Keith could feel the tips of his ears warm up.

“N-no I wasn’t!” He stuttered defensively. Shiro raised an eyebrow and looked down at Athens hand Keith was using to hold onto his carrot. Keith followed his gaze and realized his index finger was lined up right where he had attempted to slice the vegetable. Flustered, he jerked his had off the carrot and held it stiffly at his side. Shiro smiles warmly.

“Here, let me show you,” he took his other hand and led Keith’s wrist up to the fat side of the carrot and told him to hold onto it. He then gently put the knife back in Keith’s other hand, intertwined their fingers around the handle, and guided him through the movements. Keith’s shakey hands began cutting uneven slices of carrot, but still keeping his own fingers intact.

“See?” Shiro laughed in Keith’s ear. Keith scoffed in reply, starting to gain a bit more control with every chop. After a few more carrots, Keith was a pro. Still, Shiro didn’t move. Rather, he carefully placed his hands on either side of the cutting board and watched Keith move the knife up and down. Keith just smiled, feeling more secure than he ever had before.

————————

Shit.

Shit shit shit.

Keith was on his hands and knees, picking up small shards of ceramics with his bare hands. He was rushing, causing his hands and wrists to bleed as he desperately shuffled around picking up all the pieces he could. 

His heartbeat was racing as he recalled how he had just gotten up to get a drink of water, and how in his tired state he had dropped the mug he had filled with water. He remembered watching it shatter on the floor and his heart nearly raced out of his chest.

Keith made the mistake of allowing his mind to wander even more, remembering the time he had once broken a coffee mug around a year ago. The crash had woken up Lotor. He came to investigate, but when he saw Keith sitting there, he-

Keith jerked his head up, hearing footsteps. He looked over at the clock on the wall.

2:34 AM.

Tears started streaming down Keith’s face as he tried to pick up his pace. Before he could even pick up another piece of ceramic, Shiro was already standing in the doorway. Keith couldn’t even look at him as he sobbed quietly on the sharp shards in his bleeding palms.

“Keith? What’s wro-“ Shiro started, but Keith cut him off.

“I’m sorry, it’s ok! I-I’ll clean it up!” He stuttered, putting more bloody shards into a pile next to him. Shiro took a step closer, making Keith tense up even more.

“Keith, it’s f-“ Shiro once again started, but he once again didn’t get to finish.

“J-just go back to sleep, I’ve got it!” Keith sobbed. 

“Keith…” Shiro sighed, taking another step forward.

“N-no, I’ve got it!”

“Keith.”

“It’s ok, I have it!”

“Keith.”

“P-Please don’t come any closer!”

“Keith!” This time Shiro shouted Keith’s name. Keith jumped up, now seeing how much closer Shiro had gotten. His hands shook as he dropped the sharp pieces of ceramic in submission. His head fell down as he began to sob uncontrollably.

“Please…” Keith pleaded. “Don’t hurt me…” 

He felt a hand against his back and braced himself for a kick, hit, something.

Instead, Shiro pulled him closer to his chest and held him. Keith sat there for a second, but eventually wrapped his shaking, bloodied arms around Shiro’s neck and sobbed into his shoulder.

“It’s ok…” Shiro shushed him, running his hand through Keith’s hair. In the distance, Keith could hear more footsteps coming into the kitchen, but he just didn’t have the energy to look up and see who it was.

Soon he felt the rim of someone’s glasses press against the top of his head. A large, warm hand was rubbing small circles into his back while another rested on his shoulder. A smooth, soothing voice whispered words into his ear that he didn’t understand, but they still calmed him. He felt a pair of soft lips press against his forehead as he cried, and he could only think of one thing.

He was safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I wrote this one on a twin size blow up mattress... surprisingly comfy.  
> Sorry about being dead, imma try and fix that. Health stuff came up and bit me. Anyway, hope you enjoyed!


	8. This is for the Snakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oof, we are starting to reach the beginning of the end guys

Nothing.

All of Lotor’s research had come up with nothing. He was no closer to figuring out where Keith had gone than he was a month ago.

He slumped back on his chair, glancing around the small coffee shop once more. There was really nothing interesting about it, just that it was a quiet place where he could do his research and collect his thoughts. 

“Uh, excuse me sir?” Lotor looked up at the Latino boy who had come up to his table. His apron and name tag implied that he worked there, but his unamused expression implied he definitely didn’t enjoy working there… or maybe he just really didn’t like Lotor.

“Yes, can I help you?” Lotor smiled his most charming smile, resting his chin in the palm of his hand. The barista still remained unaffected.

“My boss wants me to ask you to get out, since you haven’t ordered anything and you’ve taken up literally two tables with your crap.” Lotor looked over to his left and saw that his papers and notes had indeed taken over the table next to him. Though, he had to admit he didn’t really see the problem. This place never got any business anyway.

“I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to decline.” He said plainly. The barista rolled his eyes.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that and just get you a water so I don’t have to deal with-“ he froze up as he looked down at Lotor’s computer screen. Lotor raised an eyebrow and met his gaze. The computer screen had one of the files he had pulled up about Keith. If Lotor remembered correctly, it was his police file.

The barista stood with his mouth open as he walked way. Lotor looked back up at him, wondering why he was so shaken up. He decided to keep a closer eye on him…

Something about his reaction seemed off.

When the barista returned with his water, he was silent as he quickly scanned the contents of the two tables. The change in demeanor was staggering as the boy seemed to grow even more nervous with every paper he saw. Lotor tried his best to follow along with which ones he was looking at, but couldn’t. The barista’s blue eyes were moving too quickly for him to keep up.

As he tried to stumble away rather quickly, Lotor stopped him.

“I never caught your name.” He smiled. The boy turned pale as he turned around to face him.

“I um… d-didn’t throw it.” He attempted to joke. Lotor could almost see the sweat forming on his forehead. “Why do you ask?”

Lotor’s face turned serious as he shifted so that his entire body was facing the barista. The Latino gulped and took a small step back.

“I just saw you looking at my papers and you had a strange reaction,” Lotor stated. “Do you happen to know a Keith Kogane?”

The boy let out a nervous laugh.

“Y-ya know, it’s hard to tell,” he stuttered. “Keith is a pretty c-common name.”

Lotor’s eyes narrowed. “So it is.” He agreed. The two stood there in an aggressive kind of silence before the boy spoke up.

“I-I should get back to work.” He commented quickly. “The d-drive through is pretty busy.” Lotor nodded and watched the boy stumble away.

He started to pack up his things, carefully arranging his papers into a folder and putting his laptop back into his bag. 

As Lotor walked out of the shop, he looked over at the barista once more and smiled.

Looks like he did get something from this after all.

——————-

Lotor didn’t hear the Latino’s voice again until later that night. He watched him leave the coffee shop at around 10:00 pm, keys in one hand and phone in the other.

“Uhg, no fair! How come Hunk and Pidge always get car privileges?” He exclaimed, pushing the keys into his pockets and sighing deeply. “No, Shiro it’s fine. I’ll just walk. See ya soon.”

He hung up and walked right past Lotor (who had made himself comfortable on the curb just feet away from the door), not even noticing him sitting there. Lotor smiled to himself, knowing that the if the boy was that unaware of his surroundings then what he was about to do just became much easier.

He counted to thirty in his head before getting up nonchalantly and following the boy. He did his best to maintain a safe distance as to not be noticed, though his heart desperately wanted to do something to make the chase a bit more interesting.

Lotor had managed to follow him for 3 blocks before he noticed him. It had just started off with him casually looking over his shoulder spotting him out of the corner of his eye. Even from a distance, Lotor could see his eyebrows furrow with the slightest bit of recognition.

He repeated this action a few more times, but now with obvious intention in his movement.

It was around the 6th or 7th time he turned around that it seemed everything clicked together in his head. His steps became quicker and Lotor could see the his shoulders tense up. Lotor quickened his pace as well to match his target.

Lotor could feel something in his chest tighten as the Latino’s speed walk turned into a run. He couldn’t help but grin as his feet began to run too. 

In the distance the saw a traffic light go from red…

Come on…

To yellow…

You know you can’t outrun it, just stop at the light…

To red.

Lotor’s smile faded and he slowed himself down as he saw that the boy did not stop at the light. Rather, he clumsily ran out into the street, nearly getting hit by the oncoming traffic as he stumbled to the other side of the street.

Lotor then saw him duck into an apartment building and he nodded thoughtfully. He made a mental note of the buildings address as he recalled the name of the person the boy had been addressing in the phone.

Shiro… He pondered, looking up at the building. He felt the grim return to his face. That sounds promising.

——————-

Lance rushed up the stairs, feeling his heart face out of his chest. Once he finally reached his floor after nearly running right past it, he rushed over to his door and began to fiddle with the key, having difficulty unlocking the door with his shaking hands.

Suddenly, the door opened, making Lance jump up. Shiro stood in the doorway looking quite concerned.

“Um… Lance? Is everything alright?” Lance had no time to answer as he frantically pushed past Shiro and began to search the living room. Shiro closed the door and put his hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“Lance? What’s going on?” Shiro demanded. Lance swerved his head around, breathing heavily.

“Where’s Keith?” Lance asked. Shiro’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Uh… he went to the store with Pidge and Hunk, why?” Shiro was trying to sound as calm as he could, but it was clear to see that Lance’s anxiety was contagious.

Lance broke down and told him about everything. The woman at Happy Wok who had freaked out on Keith. The customer at the shop who had been asking about him. The same customer who had followed Lance home. The papers that he had. Shiro nodded, looking scared still but not surprised.

“Lance, I know this is all scary as hell, but there is an explanation for-“ Shiro started, but was cut off by Lance suddenly grabbing his arm.

“There was a police record on Keith.” He blurted out. “Something about a car crash, and…” Lance trailed off.

This seemed to get Shiro’s attention as he raised one eyebrow. “What are you saying?”

Lance took a deep breath. He looked Shiro in the eye as he felt his heartbeat pick up again.

“I think there’s something he isn’t telling us.”


	9. For the People They Bite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Woah buddies she’s on a roll this week
> 
> (Seriously, if I stop updating again, feel free to send someone to slap me)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo... I have a few announcements at the end of this chapter. Read the bottom notes if you’re interested!

Shiro didn’t know what to do as he and Lance stood in silence. He… just didn’t know what to do.

It was obvious from the way that Lance was looking at him that he wanted some kind of answer. Something that would tell him everything was going to be alright. But Shiro didn’t know if he had an answer like that. 

Instead he just stared back at Lance, not sure whether to cry or scream. The only thing he knew for sure was that Keith was in trouble, and for some reason, that thought seemed to shut him down. 

“Shiro?” Lance looked at him, blue eyes full of concern. Shiro looked down at his feet.

“Y-you should get to bed. You’ve had a long day.” Shiro muttered. Lance opened his mouth to say something, but stayed silence. He nodded and shuffled off to his and Hunk’s room. 

Shiro sat down of the couch, pulling out his phone and texting Keith.

Hey, when are you guys getting back? He pressed the send button and waited. He kept his eyes on the door, jumping every time he heard footsteps.

Minutes turned to hours and Shiro was left without so much as a read in his message. His hands were shaking as he called Pidge for the 10th time. No answer. 

“Where are you guys, I’ve been calling all night!” Shiro paced around the living room, nearly tripping on his own feet as he left yet another voicemail. “Call me back… please.”

He fell back onto the couch, feeling the anxiety rise up in his chest. Why aren’t they back yet? Does it have anything to do with what happened with Lance?

His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. Shiro jumped up as Hunk and Pidge entered, laughing and talking with arms full of Walmart bags. Shiro felt immediate relief and frustration well up inside him.

“Where the hell were you?” He demanded, his voice cracking slightly. Pidge and Hunk looked up surprised.

“We told you we were going shopping.” Hunk said, noticing how tense Shiro but deciding it was probably better not to say anything about it. Pidge on the other hand, thought it would be best to point it out.

“Shiro, are you alright?” She asked, taking a good look at his overall distressed appearance. Shiro took a deep breath, letting himself relax a little.

“Y-yeah, I’m sorry…” he rubbed the back of his neck. “Was just… worried.” Worried was a severe understatement. Shiro was absolutely terrified. Terrified that something bad was going to happen.

“You should get some rest, ok?” Hunk smiled. “We can handle putting away the groceries.” Shiro nodded, but before he could turn around, he noticed that the trio was one head short.

“Um… where’s Keith?” Shiro felt the tightness in his chest creep back. Pidge laughed to herself.

“He ran into some hot guy in the lobby, and stopped to talk to him.” Pidge smirked. Shiro’s eyes widened, but before he could ask any questions, Hunk gently elbowed Pidge in the ribs. “Ow!”

“She’s just kidding, he went to go get the mail.” Hunk clarified. Shiro took another deep breath and pulls in his shoes.

“I’ll be right back…” he doesn’t wait for the two to reply as he walks right out the door and into the hallway. 

Running down the stairs and crashing into the lobby, seeing Keith standing by the mailboxes with no hot guy in sight. Keith jumps a little, but smiles when he sees that it’s just Shiro. Shiro doesn’t know why, but being around Keith seems to bring his anxiety down a bit. He lets his muscles relax a little as he walks up to Keith.

“These ones are for you!” Keith pipes cheerfully as he thrust a few envelopes into his hands. Shiro shuffled through them quickly and immediately realizes that it’s all junk mail. Still, the thanks Keith for giving it to him.

“Hey, you want me to carry your bag?” Shiro offered, but Keith just shook his head.

“Nah, it’s not heavy, just some movies I rented.” He smiled, holding the bag up a little higher to prove his point. “Gotta have something to do while I’m home alone tomorrow that doesn’t involve almost chopped by my hand off.”

Shiro stiffened at the thought of leaving Keith alone as he remembered what Lance had said about the stranger in the cafe asking questions about him. Without thinking, he spoke up.

“I’ll watch them with you, I have tomorrow off!” Shiro blurted out.

No you don’t. Shiro could almost hear his conscience berate him. Keith looked up, reasonably surprised.

“I thought you worked a double shift tomorrow?” He raised his eyebrows, but didn’t sound displeased. Shiro swallowed hard, but tried his best to keep his composure. He had always been a bad liar.

“Yeah, they took me off the schedule.” Shiro fibbed, hoping his explanation would be enough. It seemed to work for Keith, since he didn’t question a single thing.

“Cool,” he smiled. The two of them sat there in comfortable silence, not minding the quiet. Shiro found his face heating up a little bit as Keith cleared his throat.

“We should probably go up to the apartment.” He laughed. “Don’t want the others thinking we got lost.”

Shiro only laughed half heartedly as he followed Keith up the stairs. Shiro looked up at his friend and suddenly remembered what Lance had said only a few hours ago. 

“I think there’s something he isn’t telling us.”

Despite how close Shiro felt to Keith, and despite the effect Keith had on him, he barely knew him. He didn’t know his past, the things he might have done before he came to live with them. He didn’t even know what his favorite color was…

But he wanted to. 

Over the past few weeks, Shiro had been suppressing so many question he desperately wanted to ask his friend.

What was his favorite food?

What are his parents like?

Did he used to hate math?

Why does he have a Texan accent when he says some words?

Why does he love watching documentaries on hippos with Pidge?

… What does he think of Shiro?

But now, no matter how much he was scared of the answer would be, he had a few more pressing questions.

What is he hiding?

And why did he feel like something bad was about to happen?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I am working on another multi chapter fic called “Summer Fling”, so if you enjoy watering your Plance and a little bit of beach fluff, keep your eyes peeled. It will probably start updating once this fic comes down to its last few chapters.
> 
> But the more exciting news it that I am also currently working my on my own original novel that might be published. If you guys are interested in learning more, tell me down below. I could really use some options so I know whether or not it is something people will be interested in.


	10. It’s No Big Surprise You Turned Out This Way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry that this chapter took forever... certain developments in the shows canon had me redo the entire course of this fanfic so that it could better follow...  
> By now, you all know what I’m talking about.

Shiro hadn’t been back to work for weeks, and it was only now dawning on him that Keith might eventually start to notice that his “weekend off” has almost turned into his “month off”. 

In hindsight, he really should have thought this through better. Not only would Keith eventually realize that he was lying, but he also might not have a job when he gets back. 

In all honesty, he wasn’t even sure what his plan even was in the first place. Stay with Keith in the apartment and hope that this threat disappears on his own? What was he going to do if the guy came right to the door? He didn’t even know what he looked like.

This entire situation was insane. It had been since the beginning. He let a stranger into his apartment, let him stay for almost two months, and now he was literally skipping work for weeks on end for him. He’d never even considered going to these lengths for anyone.

Shiro froze, pondering on that for a second. No. It wasn’t true. There was one other person…

Shiro shook his head. That was enough of that.

He looked back into the living room at Keith, who was kicking a pizza box off the couch so he could prop up his feet. His eyes met Shiro’s and he smiled. Shiro did his best to ignore his heart thumping in his chest.

He’d manage to go months ignoring this feeling. Even when it would occasionally pop up when he’d see Keith early in the morning with his messed up hair, or when he’d laugh. He’d feel that warmth spread through his chest and his face would heat up. It felt so right… but also so wrong.

Not necessarily because of the fact that Keith was a guy, Shiro knew he was interested in men for a long time. Like… a very long time.

It was more how he felt like he was betraying-

Don’t, He mentally scolded himself. Don’t think about him. Not now.

But it was too late. His mind wandered to a smile, a pair of crooked glasses, and a blow up twin sized mattress that Pidge made them use every time he wanted to stay the night with Shiro. It helped calm his nerves to wake up in the same room with him. 

He hadn’t even realized that he had started crying. Bringing his hand up to his face, he almost wished it was made of metal. Then he wouldn’t have to feel the wet streaks falling down his face on his fingertips.

“Are you alright?” He jumped in surprise. Keith flinched back, holding his arms up defensively. The corner of his mouth quirked up and he gave a soft chuckle. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Shiro wasn’t 100% sure if he hadn’t. For a split second, he saw him. Soft smile, crooked glasses and all. His heart lifted and he felt like he was going to start crying all over again.

But then, just as quickly as he was there, he was gone. Or rather, replaced. Keith had the same smile, the same wide eyes. True, he didn’t have glasses, his hair was darker and his skin was lighter. But in that moment they felt like they were one in the same. The light feeling in his chest still didn’t go away, even after he blinked several times.

Out of nowhere, Shiro remembered something that Pidge had told him the day after Keith had come to live with them. About how he deserved to be happy, and how he was allowed to be happy again. At first he thought she was insane… but did she really see something he hadn’t.

Probably not… but maybe she was right. He’s allowed to move on.

You can’t cling to someone who’s gone for forever.

He smiled back at Keith, who had grown slightly concerned.

“Don’t worry about me,” he brushed some hair out of Keith’s face, causing the other boy’s eyes to widen, but he didn’t protest. “I’m fine.”

—————-

Takashi Shirogane.

It had taken him weeks to find the name, but now that Lotor had it, the world seemed smaller.

He knew he had something to do with Keith.

But now the question was how? Who was he and why was Keith with him? 

No number of google searches, archive hunts, or conversations with a drunk landlord would be able to clear that up. And in every bit of honesty, Lotor wasn’t really sure if the police station would be able to either. But it was the one place he had access to that he hadn’t checked. He supposed that at the very least, if he managed to find some kind of criminal record on the guy then he could potentially use it is blackmail.

However unsure he was about this particular course of action, he still sauntered in with the confidence of royalty.

The girl at the front desk saw him and attempted to swallow the lump in her throat as she asked him what he was doing here. In her defense, it probably would be uneasy for the son of one of the town’s big shots to come into your work with a glare that could easily kill if it was given the power.

Lotor didn’t even try to be charming as he fed her a bullshit story about how his father needed some files from the archives. She just nodded and handed him the keys, trying her best to stop her hands from shaking. Lotor just rolled his eyes and wondered how in hell such a meek little thing even got a job in a police station (or why she had chosen to work there, of all places). He grabbed the keys and proceeded to the back of the station, down the stairs, and into a square basement area covered wall to wall with filing cabinets.

Lotor looked around at the records, sorted by alphabetical order and in numbered cabinets. Each file had a number on it as well as the name on the person for more precise categorization, which Lotor thought was an overkill, but he supposed that of that system had worked thus far then he really couldn’t complain too much.

He directed his attention to the “S” cabinets, guessing that Takashi’s (or Shiro, as the barista had called him) file would most likely be in the 3rd cabinet. He yanked open the first drawer, thumbing through folder after folder, some thicker than others, scanning for the name. 

As he cleared drawer after drawer, Lotor was beginning to lose hope. It hadn’t even occurred to him that this Shiro may not even have a record…

That was until he got to the back of the very bottom drawer.

File # S-003-1175: Shirogane, Takashi.

Lotor carefully lifted the folder out of the drawer, immediately noticing how light it was compared to the others that he had seen. He opened it carefully, attempting not to scatter anyone it’s contents onto the floor.

Lotor frowned, seeing a nearly empty folder. There were only two or three  
pieces of paperwork and a sticky note. When he examined the few things in the folder closely, he saw that it was a record for a bad car crash, more specifically a DWI… though it was worth noting that Takashi himself wasn’t the one drunk, but rather the one who seemed to have gotten hit. The medical records that were stapled to the back of the police report showed that despite how badly the car was destroyed, Shiro had managed to walk away with only a cut across his nose and a broken wrist. 

Lotor sneered, and was ready to put the folder back and call the entire ordeal a bust… until he saw the sticky note

File # G-001-0107

File # K-011-0023

Something about that last number seemed… familiar. He stood up, sticky note in hand, and followed the coordinates he had been given.

Letter K.

Cabinet 11.

23rd file in the cabinet.

Lotor found it fairly quickly in the first drawer, and his blood seemed to stand still.

File # K-011-0023: Kogane, Keith.

It was Keith’s file.

It was Keith’s accident.

The very event that had brought Lotor and Keith together was the only link between Keith and Takashi… but something wasn’t adding up.

How was Shirogane alive? The car crash Keith was in had killed someone, yet right there on his medical file it said that this Takashi Shirogane had walked away with a broken wrist and a scratch on his nose. There had to be more than this.

Lotor looked down at the other number on the sticky note: # G-001-107.

Letter G.

Cabinet 1.

107th file in the cabinet.

Nothing could prepare Lotor for the contents of that folder as he recoiled in disgust with one hand clasping his mouth to keep him from vomiting.

The pictures in this folder were not of a man, but more of what used to be one. The remains were in no way pretty, and the only sign that the bloodied carcass in the images had in fact once been a human were the pair of glasses that lay crumbled and destroyed, almost blending in with the shattered windshield that covered him. 

File # G-001-0107: Garret, Adam.

The only other things in the file were the death certificate, the medical records that stated he was dead before he had even made it into the ambulance, and a plastic baggie that held a single gold engagement ring.

Lotor smirked to himself as all the pieces clicked into place right before his very eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me just say right now, I don’t care if in the next season Keith gives birth to a rat, Lance reveals that he’s been a middle aged woman all along, and Shiro’s new arm turns out to be a goddamn plastic alligator stick thing, This. Story. Isn’t. Adjusting. Again.
> 
> This show has thrown this story through every loop, and now I have everything smoothed out and it’s staying.
> 
> I also want to confess that this is how I had planned to incorporate Matt before it was revealed in the show that he’s still alive. So I rejected, adjusted, and then recycled the idea once Adam was introduced. Yay, pain.
> 
> Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed and sorry for the long wait. Until next time ❤️


	11. They Prayed You Would Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof she’s a long one.

“Shiro, please, I’m begging you!” Lance pleaded, clasping his hands together. Shiro just rolled his eyes and sighed.

“No way, you aren’t touching Old Black.” Lance pouted as Shiro turned around.

“This isn’t fair, it’s just a truck! You let Hunk drive it all the time!” Lance groaned, throwing his head back in exasperation. Shiro sighed.

“Hunk didn’t total his car last year because he dropped his fries and couldn’t see that he was about to run into a fucking tree.” Shiro shot back. Lance opened his mouth to say something, but honestly didn’t really have a solid comeback. 

In his defense, he really wanted his fries. Love makes the heart do some wild shit.

… which gave Lance an idea.

“What if Keith comes with me?” He asked, feeling pretty confident. Shiro raised an eyebrow.

“Why would I let you drive my car just because Keith’s with you?” Shiro scoffed. Lance just smiled.

“Because I know if he asks then you won’t be able to say no.” Lance shot back. Shiro turned slightly red, but nevertheless sighed and fished his keys out of his pocket, tossing them over to Lance. Yay, emotional exploitation!

“Crash my truck and I swear to all things holy I will end you.” Shiro threatened. Lance’s smile widened as he nodded, rushing off to find Keith.

“Hey, Mullet!” He shouted, barging into Keith, Shiro, and Pidge’s shared room. The loud noise made Keith drop the book he was reading and startled Pidge so much that she fell off of her bed.

“Lance, what the hell?” Keith exclaimed, picking his book up and marking his page with a piece of scrap paper. Pidge just glared at him and muttered curses as she pushed herself back onto her mattress. Lance just kept beaming.

“Keith, get your shoes on, we’re going to Target!” Lance said, giving Keith a thumbs up. Keith just looked up at him, confused.

“Wait, why am I going to Target?” He asked, sitting up on his bed. Lance pause. Why would Keith probably want to go to Target?

“You know, to uh... get those little red abominations you like so much.” Lance explained.

“Swedish Fish?”

“Yeah, those.” Lance groaned. He didn’t care what your argument was, those things were nasty. Pidge looked Lance dead in the eye and held up a jumbo bag of said abominations that the two had been sharing prior to Lance barging in unexpectedly.

Well fuck.

“Ok, fine, you caught me.” Lance sighed. “Shiro won’t let me drive the truck unless you come with.” Pidge laughed.

“Wonder why? Not like you’ve totaled almost every car you’ve ever gotten your hands on.” Pidge quipped. Lance glared at her and turned back to Keith, eyes pleading.

“Please?” He was honestly ready to get on his knees and beg. He really needed his root beer. 

Keith rolled his eyes and groaned. “Fine, but I’m not driving.”

Pidge narrowed her eyes. “Keith, I urge you to reconsider that. Your life would literally be in Lance’s hands.”

“I kinda trust him… but if I die, tell Hunk to cater my funeral. Just because I’m dead doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate some good food.” Keith said. Pidge looked unsure, but nodded.

The two made their way out into the living room, running into Hunk. Lance smiled at him.

“Hey, we’re going to Target. You want anything?” Lance asked, spinning Shiro’s keys on his index finger. Hunk raised his eyebrow.

“We?” 

“Yes.”

“Meaning Keith is going with you?”

“Yes.”

“... Like, willingly?” Hunk questioned. He turned his attention to Keith. “Keith, if you’re being taken hostage blink twice.”

Lance pouted. “You know what, just for that, I’m not gonna pick you up any Oreos!”

“... Lance, I don’t even like Oreos.” Hunk pointed out. Lance just walked right by him. Huh… that was news to him.

“Well, uh… good. Because I wasn’t going to get you some anyway!” Lance stuck his tongue out over his shoulder and dragged Keith out of the door behind him.

Once the two were standing outside of the car, Lancefigured it might be a good idea to inform Keith that he wasn’t nearly as bad as the others had tried to make him out to be (Pidge was worse). Keith laughed, and shook his head.

“You’re fine, Lance. Just don’t kill us, ‘kay?” He teased. Lance rolled his eyes and went to climb into the driver's seat…

That’s when he saw him.

At first, he was just a blur of blond hair and pale skin walking towards the door of the building. But when Lance looked a little closer, he recognized him. His breath hitched and he looked over at Keith.

It was the guy from the cafe.

————

Lotor had waited for this moment for months, and now it felt that much sweeter with the added bonus of the three envelopes in his hands.

As he pushed the doors of the building open, he felt an overwhelming feeling of satisfaction. He’d found him.

There was no way Keith was getting away this time.

As he climbed the stairs, he tried to remember the apartment number that the landlord had given him. Apartment 235.

It didn’t take too long for him to find it. 

Lotor smirked as he knocked on the door. He tapped his foot in time with his erratic heartbeat, excitement coursing through his veins.

When the door opened, Lotor took a good long look at the man standing in the doorway. To say he was tall would be a huge understatement. Lotor was tall. This man towered above him.

He was also pretty well built, and could very clearly throw Lotor across the room three times over (Lotor suddenly had a few new reasons to hope this confrontation went well).

But despite his intimidating stature, he had a very welcoming smile as he greeted Lotor.

“Hi, how can I help you?” He moved a clump of white hair out of his eyes. Lotor smiled at him charmingly.

“Hello,” He greeted warmly. “Are you Takashi Shirogane?”

The man laughed sheepishly. “You can shorten that to Shiro if you want.”

“Shiro.” Lotor felt a strange tightness in his chest as he imagined Keith living with this guy for the months he’d been away, and he began to pray that this lead turned out to be a dead end. This simply didn’t sit right with him.

“So, what is it you needed?” Shiro raised an eyebrow, most likely noticing the slight twitching of Lotor’s hands as he thought about his boyfriend rooming with this attractive stranger.

“Ah, yes,” Lotor quickly regained his composure. “I was wondering if you knew anything about a man Keith Kogane? He’s been missing for a while now… I’m starting to get worried. I have reason to believe he might be staying here.”

Shiro’s smile fell pretty quickly as he began to eye Lotor, not yet suspiciously but very close to it.

“Who are you?” Shiro’s posture stiffened, as if he was trying to make himself appear even bigger. Lotor wondered if it had been because he detected his own aggression, or if it had been the mention of Keith that triggered the reaction. Either one made Lotor’s blood boil, though for vastly different reasons.

“Ah, where are my manners?” Lotor stuck his hand out and gave a sly, much more sinister smirk.”My name it Lotor Altra. I’m his boyfriend.”

Lotor wasn’t sure what he’d expected Shiro’s reaction to be, but he knew this wasn’t it. 

Shiro’s face began to contort in a mixture of anger and disgust and his fist balled up. But he didn’t throw a punch.

“You should go.” He attempted to say calmly, but the malice in his voice still shone through. Lotor didn’t know why, but he laughed.

“I assume he hasn’t spoken kindly of me?” He said, amused. Shiro just glared him down.

“Just leave. Now.” He insisted. 

But of course, Lotor wasn’t backing down that easily. He wasn’t really one to break character.

“I always knew he had a tendency to hop from man to man, but I never thought he would do it like this.” His tone was light hearted, but his implications were clear as day. He knew what was going on. Lotor was a lot of things, but stupid wasn’t one of them.

Shiro’s jaw tightened as his fist clenched even harder. Lotor hated the reaction he was getting, because it implied that what he was saying did in fact hold some truth.

“Don’t take it personally,” Lotor added, his voice filled with the bitterness he’d been harboring for months now. “You aren’t the first. And sure as hell you won’t be the la-“

There was a sudden flash of pain as Lotor’s jaw met with a fist, sending him flying backwards. He looked up, pressing his hand to the place of impact as he watched, Shiro begin to breathe heavily, pinpricks of tears forming in the corners of his eyes. 

“I see…” Lotor let out a bitter laugh. “What kind of line has he been feeding you? That same old stuff about how he needs to be fixed, how you make him whole? You think you’re the only he’s fed that bullshit to?”

“I swear, if you come here again, if you so much as show your face in front of him, I’ll-“ Shiro hissed.

“Do you seriously think you’re special to him?” Lotor spat back, dropping his composure entirely.

“I don’t care if I am or not, I’m not going to let you hurt him!” Shiro raised his voice, starting to look at Lotor with a level of malice that he’d never seen before.

“You barely know him.” Lotor pointed out, glaring the other man down.

“I know him enough to know he deserves better than you!” Lotor froze, letting that line sink in. It was then that he remembered the three folders in his hand. He held them up to Shiro, glaring at him intensely.

“Fine, if you know him so well…” he pushed the folders into Shiro’s arms. “Read those. Tell me what you think of him after that.”

But Shiro didn’t open the files. He didn’t even look down at them. He just shoved them right back into Lotor’s chest.

“Nothing,” Shiro hissed. “Nothing in those folders could make me change my mind.”

Lotor’s eyes narrowed and he scoffed. “Fine, have it your way. But when the truth comes out, don’t let it be said that I didn’t warn you.”

The two exchanged one last glare as Lotor walked away, eventually disappearing into the stairwell. He could feel the jealousy, rage, and disappointment welling up inside him as he entered the main lobby and headed for the door.

But it looked like his night wasn’t over just yet.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Lotor turned around, now standing face to face with a vaguely familiar man. It took Lotor a second to remember who he was, but he eventually deduced that he was the barista from the cafe.

“Nothing of your concern, I assure you.” He dismissed him, sighing. But it looked like the Latino boy wasn’t giving in without a solid answer.

“You aren’t going to touch him, do you understand me?” The boy took a step closer, puffing his chest out. Lotor let out a dry laugh.

“You too, huh?” His chest tightened again. Keith seemed to have a strange effect on people…

Lotor remembered when he first felt it.

The Latino raised an eyebrow, clearly not understanding what Lotor was getting at but also not caring to much. Lotor huffed and shiver the folders in his hands into the boy’s chest.

“Do yourself a favor, read these.” He sighed. “Prove your smarter than your ‘Shiro’ was.”

The boy held the files, but didn’t look at them. Instead, he stared Lotor down as if to say No fucking way.

But as Lotor walked past him, he looked over his shoulder to see the boy eye the papers warily. There was no doubt in Lotor’s mind that he would be skimming those later on that very night.

Still, his victory did not quell the rage he felt when he thought of Keith. Keith waking up in the same apartment as Shiro. Keith smiling and laughing at something Shiro said. Keith kissing Shiro. Keith touching Shiro.

As he stood there, stewing in his own thoughts, who should he see but the devil himself.

Keith.

He sunk back farther into the dark, shaded area as he observed Keith. It had been the closest he’d been to him in a long time.

Keith looked happier. Healthier. The parts of him that had once been deathly thin were starting to fill out, and his once pasty skin had darkened to a more natural looking tone. His sullen face seemed so much happier and full of life.

It made Lotor sick.

He began to think of all the ways he had punished him in the past. The burns. The bruises. The sex. All the things he hung over his head like a marionette that would always render Keith powerless.

But those aren’t enough this time. Lotor thought to himself. His eyes set on the old black pickup truck that Keith had been in just a few seconds ago.

No, this time he had to hit where it hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are reaching the home stretch kiddos, things are gonna start moving pretty fast from here on out.
> 
> Sorry this was so poorly written. I won’t lie, it’s not my best work. But this needed to go down for the other, hopefully better written chapters to make sense.


	12. With Tears in My Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s getting real kiddos

Lance had promised himself that he wouldn’t open the folders that the guy in the lobby gave him. Nothing that they said would change his mind about Keith or doubt that he belonged with them…

But at the same time…

Lance sat on the floor of his and Hunk’s room, staring at the files in his hands. The paper contents peaked out, but not far enough for Lance to be able to read anything. 

What could be in here? The guy had made such a big deal about it… so what was it? He thumbed at the corners of the papers that stuck out in every which way. He remembered how silent Shiro had been when he walked in the door… and how angry he had seemed when he asked where Keith was. Wait, no… not angry.

Shiro was desperate. Lance looked up at his door, where he could faintly hear Shiro and Keith’s voices but couldn’t understand what they were saying. 

Shiro wasn’t known for being on edge. Sure, he could be uptight, and sometimes he would scold them if they came home super late from work or something. But he had never been this… high strung.

Well, he’d been like this once before. That night last year, when he was pacing around the living room because Adam was running uncharacteristically late. Right before he got the phone call from the police. Right before they told him Adam was-

Lance stopped himself mid thought, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. He remembered that night all too well. He watched Pidge and Hunk completely shut down when the doctor came out of the operating room and shook his head. 

Hunk had buried his face in his hand and shook his head in disbelief while Pidge just stared blankly and sat down in the chair next to her, retreating inward so that she didn’t have to face the scene in front of her.

Shiro had sunk to his knees and just screamed Adam’s name, almost as if he said it loud enough then he would hop off of the operating table and run into his arms. Instead, all he got was Lance gently cradling his shoulders, holding back his tears as he tried to comfort him.

Lance had promised himself he wouldn’t cry. As silly as it seemed to some people, he felt this need to protect Shiro. Despite how Shiro had claimed long ago that he was better, Lance knew it was only skin deep. Sometimes they would pass by the corner where Adam was hit, and he would just stare. Or he would stop by before one of Lance’s classes to drop off a book he’d forgotten and he’d see the tree that he’d met Adam under. There, he’d hide his head and try to hold back tears.

There was no healing from what had happened. No therapy would erase Adam.

But Keith had made the weight easier to bear. Since he had came, Shiro had started laughing again. He had started to smile, and tease, and joke around. It almost felt like it had been before. Sure, Keith wasn’t Adam. No one would ever really replace what Adam and Shiro had. But something told Lance that Adam would have liked him.

Lance looked down at the folders, narrowing his eyes. Nothing in them is going to tear apart his family. Not again.

That all changed when he flipped open the first one.

He jumped back, holding back a sob and hoping that it wasn’t who he thought it was, laying in that pool of blood and broken glass.

But he knew that sweatshirt. Lance had been the one to give it to him the Christmas of that year. 

Everything from the shattered glasses, to the brown hair matted with dried blood, to the engagement ring around his left ring finger told Lance who this was.

“Oh god… Adam.” He whispered, letting his tears spill over and roll down his cheeks.He let his hand trace over the picture, wishing that the real Adam were here. He would know how to sort through this mess.

He flipped the picture over, not being able to bear looking at it anymore. He took a second to compose himself before looking at the rest of the file. It was the basic information that the police had told them all. What happened. When it happened. How Adam died…

Wait. 

Something was wrong. Why did this file have two other file numbers attached? There was one under emergency contact…

And one under “others in this case”. 

But there couldn’t be a file for the other person in this case. It was a hit and run, they never found the other driver. Why would there be a file for someone who they couldn’t find?

“Prove you’re smarter…” The words suddenly rang in Lance’s ears.

Keith.

“No… no no please no!” Lance whispered, throwing Adam’s file aside and moving on to the next one in the pile. He flipped open to a picture of Shiro and scanned, trying to find the “others” option. 

This has to be a mistake, this can’t be real.

He put his finger on the file number and felt his chest collapse in on itself. There it was again…

“Please no…” He sobbed out. He slowly pushed Shiro’s file off to the side with Adam’s, looking at the remaining folder that sat in front of him. It’s number was written on the small tab, and its contents spilled out from the sides, the folder itself being overstuffed. With shaking hands, Lance took a deep breath and flipped over the top cover.

He felt his breath catch in his throat as his eyes traced Keith’s mugshot.

No…

No no no no no this can’t be real.

Lance held the accident report up, crumpling it in his tightening grip as he sobbed in grief and pure rage.

There has to be more to this.

\-------

Keith sat in the kitchen, leaning against the counter as he took a swig of chocolate milk and scrolled through his phone. It was currently around 2:30 in the morning, and everyone else in the apartment was asleep.

Keith however, was having trouble. Something was off tonight… 

When he walked through the door, he had been greeted by a very stressed Shiro, pacing in front of the couch and tapping his hand on his thigh. When he looked up and saw him, he had almost started crying, but he wouldn’t tell Keith what was wrong.

He hadn’t seen Lance at all since they got back. Shiro had said something about him going into his room, but he didn’t say much else.

Keith jumped, hearing a door in the hallway open and then slam shut. In walked Lance a few seconds later. His eyes were red and puffy, but when he saw Keith his face became unreadable. Keith smiled up at him, putting his phone down.

“Lance, you scared me!” He said playfully. Lance just looked at him and headed over to the fridge. Keith rolled his eyes, knowing how moody Lance could be when he’s tired and continued drinking his milk.

Lance got the milk out of the fridge and started pouring himself a glass…

But stopped mid pour.

He took a deep, shaky breath. “Keith?”

“Hm?” Keith responded, looking up. Lance’s eyes stayed focused on his half empty glass.

“Let’s say I did something…” Lance started, supporting himself by pressing his palms on the counter. “Something that hurt the others. Something really bad. Should I tell them?”

Keith couldn’t help but ponder what that question could possibly mean. “Lance… are you ok?”

“Im fine.” Lance said quickly. He took another breath and focused harder on his glass of milk. “I’m- I’m fine. Just answer the question.”

“I guess it would kinda depend. Do you want them to know? It’s up t-” Keith started, but was cut off by Lance slamming his fist on the counter.

“For God’s sake, answer the question!” He demanded, voice dripping with a strange type of malice. “Do they deserve to know? Should I tell them?”

Keith was taken aback. He took a few seconds, and then answered. His voice was soft and honest. “Yes.”

Lance sat in silence for a while. “That’s what I thought…” He muttered. He lifted his glass to his lips and took a small sip.

“Lance…?” Keith asked gently. “Are you sure you’re ok?”

A glass slammed down on the countertop, sending a loud crash ringing through the small apartment. “I SAID I WAS FINE!” Lance almost yelled. 

Keith’s eyes grew wide and he stumbled back. Lance pushed himself off the counter, heading for the hallway…

But then he stopped.

He took one last shaky breath. “Keith?”

“Yeah…” Keith looked back up, concerned. Lance turned his head, not far enough for Keith to see his face but just far enough to see the tears that fell down his cheeks.

“You know we love you, right?” He asked, his voice broken. “We trust you. Shiro trusts you.”

Keith stands up straight, finally being given a question that he knows the answer to.

“Yes.” He says with confidence. “I do.”

Lance nodded, barely visible in the darkened doorway.

“Good.”


	13. I Begged You To Stay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You guys might want to ehem...  
> buckle up

Shiro woke up early the next morning, looking around in the dim light of the string lights that came from Pidge’s side of the room. He took a couple seconds to stretch his arms out with a semi-loud groan. Pidge shifted in her sheets, muttering something into her pillow. 

Shiro smiled and whispered a short apology, standing up and stumbling sleepily to the door. He opened it slowly, peeking out into the hallway.

As usual, there was no sign of life. Shiro yawned again, turning into the living room. He noticed a shift on the cleared off portion of the couch and smiled.

Keith.

He leaned down and brushed some hair out of Keith’s face, closing his eyes. Last night had been… well, hectic. Shiro had desperately wanted to ask Keith what was going on, or how he could help. He wanted to ask what had been in the folders, or how he had found him. He wanted to ask if he could keep him safe…

But he didn’t.

He probably never would.

Shiro sighed, settling himself down at the foot of the couch and leaning his head against the armrest. He tried to remember when things were easier. 

A couple years ago, when all Shiro had to worry about was remembering to turn in his papers on time, not pissing Professor Iverson off too much, and figuring out how to ask out the cute boy who sat in front of him.

… Now all he had was a degree that he hadn’t had the chance to use yet and an engagement ring buried deep in his sock drawer.Shiro sighed, closing his eyes even tighter. He missed things being easy.

“Shiro?” Keith whispered. Shiro jumped, almost falling forward into the coffee table. Keith looked down at him from his place on the couch.

“U-um… Keith.” Shiro cleared his throat. “Hey.” Keith’s eyes widened a tad bit, but closed quickly as he let out a soft laugh. Shiro could feel the warmth spread to his cheeks as he stood up, brushing himself off.

“What are you doing up?” Keith asked, rubbing his eyes. Shiro raised his eyebrow.

“More like what are you doing out here? You have a bed, you know.” Shiro laughed. Keith paused for a second, looking down at his lap.

“I was having some trouble sleeping…” he admitted. Shiro’s eyes narrowed as he looked down at his feet. He remembered the events of last night and started to wonder how he had managed to sleep. They sat in silence for a second. 

“Well… I’m gonna go make some coffee…” Shiro said, but before he could escape, he felt a hand wrap around his wrist.

“Shiro, wait.” Keith pleaded. “Is there something wrong?” Shiro froze.

“What makes you think something’s wrong?” Shiro tried to hide the unsteadiness in his voice. Keith sighed.

“You’ve been acting strange for a while now… you haven’t gone to work in forever, I’ll come back and you’ll be pacing around the living room. And then last night, there was Lance…” Keith trailed off. Shiro narrowed his eyes in confusion. What did Lance have to do with any of this?

Keith took another deep breath, loosening his grip on Shiro’s arm. “Last night, Lance was talking to me about something… I could tell something was up, but he kept saying he was fine.”

There was a beat of silence.

“... What did he say?’ Shiro asked, taking a step closer to Keith.

“Something about… Telling the truth to the people who deserve to know,” Keith looked up in Shiro’s eyes. “Even if it might be something they don’t want to hear.”

Shiro’s heart was beating fast. In that moment, he felt that strange feeling again. It was the same feeling of butterflies that he had felt when he had first walked up to the boy with the brown hair and the crooked glasses almost three years ago.

He suddenly remembered being that nervous 23 year old kid, standing under a tree asking this boy he barely knew for his number.

Shiro didn’t think, he just moved forward, closing the space between them. His eyes squeezed shut as he pressed his lips to Keith’s, the kiss feeling like his first as he forgot how he was supposed to move his lips.

He felt Keith’s shoulders tense, but then relax. His lips moved against Shiro’s hesitantly, lifting his hand up and gently placing it on Shiro’s shoulder.

Nothing had ever felt this simple in Shiro’s life.

The two pulled back, making eye contact as the both stood in silence.

“... Go out with me?” Shiro asked tentatively. “Tonight?”

Keith allowed a small smile to creep across his face.

“Yeah… that sounds nice.”

\-----

Everything was set up perfectly. Shiro stood nervously in the opening of the hallway, a button up shirt and tie hidden under his jacket. They had both agreed that the last thing they needed was the others finding out about their…

Date? It was a date, right? Like… they kissed. This had to be a date.

He didn’t have much time to think before Keith walked up to him, wrapped up in a grey cardigan and hiding a smile in the folds of his red scarf.

“You ready?” He asked. Shiro tried not to blush as he nodded. Lance walked out of his room at just that moment, causing Shiro and Keith to both take small steps back from each other. Lance paused, looking in between the two of them.

“Where are you guys going?” He asked, giving a strangely suspicious glance over at Keith.

“Oh, um… Keith needs something from the store. We’re gonna go pick it up.” Shiro said quickly. Lance nodded, making a humming noise as he turned his attention to Shiro.

“I need to talk to you…” He said in an urgent whisper. “Privately.” 

Shiro looked down, noticing a stack of folders that Lance was clutching in his hands. He sighed, realizing that he must need help with some homework.

“Can we talk later?” Shiro asked. Lance gave Keith another tentative look before nodding hesitantly.

“Yeah… just… just make it quick.” Lance stated. With that, he was gone.

Shiro took the opportunity to take Keith’s hand, half dragging him out the front door with both of them in a fit of giggles.

When they get to Old Black, Shiro makes a show of opening the passenger side door, helping Keith in before rounding over to the drivers side and getting in himself.

He fiddled with his keys, feeling a strange mix of nervousness and excitement. The drive to the small family owned diner downtown was filled with light hearted banter and jolty stops (Shiro was going to have to get his brakes checked again. Strange… He thought he did that only last month).

As the two entered the diner, still laughing about something one of them said, they plopped themselves into the first available booth.

“Wait wait wait.” Keith laughed out shortly after the two had gotten their food. “Please tell me you aren’t one of those people who dip their fries in their milkshake!” 

Shiro smiled, taking a bite out of his ice cream covered fry. “Hey, don’t knock it ‘til you try it!”

Keith wrinkled his nose. “That’s a hard pass!” He insisted.

“Oh come on!” Shiro coated another fry in his milkshake and held it up to Keith’s face. “One bite?”

Keith rolled his eyes and leaned forward, catching the fry with his teeth. He immediately grimaced, shaking his head as Shiro laughed.

As the two continued to talk, minutes started to bleed into hours. Before they knew it, they were being rushed out as the waitress got ready to close. Shiro tipped her nicely for allowing them to stay as long as they did and lead Keith back to Old Black.

Keith hopped into his seat with Shiro’s assistance and waited as Shiro climbed into his side. Keith laughed at the loud popping noise that Old Black made as Shiro pressed on the break to put it in drive.

“You weren’t kidding when you called it Old Black, were you?” Keith teased.

“Hey, she’s not that old!” Shiro laughed. “She’s still in her prime!”

Keith rolled his eyes as the two started down the road, going a little faster than normal.Everything seemed to be just fine…

Until they reached the stop light.

“Um, Shiro?” Keith nudged him gently. “The light is turning yellow. Shouldn’t you slow down?”

Shiro frowned. He was slowing down. Or… trying to at least. He was pressing on the break, why wasn’t it slowing down.

“Um, Shiro?” Keith raised an eyebrow, looking over at him. “Is there something wrong?”

“I- I don’t know. The breaks were fine a few hours ago.” Shiro pressed on them harder, starting to panic as the car neared the light. “Why isn’t it-”

“Shiro look out!” Keith yelled. Shiro looked up and swerved just out of the way of an incoming car as they sped through the now red light. That’s when Shiro remembered.

Oh god, that popping noise.

Was that…?

“Shiro! It’s another red light!” Keith panicked. Shiro pressed harder on the break in desperation as he saw the car barrel towards the next intersection.

Shiro looked over at Keith, seeing how scared he was as he curled up into the seat. It wasn’t until Shiro turned his head that he saw that they were speeding through the intersection…

Then he heard the horn of a semi truck growing closer.

Shiro threw his arm in front of Keith just before everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don’t kill me


	14. I Love You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ha ha...  
> I’m sorry

Lance burst through the doors of the ER, scanning the crowd frantically. He spotted Hunk pacing in a waiting room with his face nestled in his hands. Pidge sat in a chair, knees drawn up to her chest as she ran her hand through her hair. When they saw Lance, they both bolted over to him. Lance ran to them, meeting his friends halfway. He pulled Pidge close to his chest and allowed Hunk to drape a firm arm over his shoulder.

“What’s happening? I got a call on the home phone from the receptionist and I came as soon as…” He looked up, suddenly realizing that their party was short two members. He remembered the receptionist’s vagueness when he had answered the phone and her insistent tone when she told he looked down at Pidge, who was sobbing into his shirt.

“Where are Shiro and Keith?” He asked her gently, trying to hide the panic in his voice. She just looked up at him with her light brown eyes full of tears as she tugged him closer and pressed her forehead back to his chest. Lance looked at Hunk, whose arm was shaking around him as he held back tears.

“Lance… there.... There was a car crash and-” Hunk held back a sob, tightening his grip on Lance’s shoulder. “They don’t know… if he’ll make it… I…”

Hunk gave in, letting sobs shake his body as he leaned into the hug.

“Hunk…” Lance said as calmly as he could manage. “Who was driving?”

Hunk lifted his tear streaked face and narrowed his eyes in confusion. “W-why does that…?”

“Hunk, please!” Lance begged, his own tears threatening to spill over. “You have to tell me. Who was driving?”

Hunk looked down. “I- I don’t know.” Lance pursed his lips and pulled away from his friends, heading over towards the nurse that was heading their way.

“Ma’am, please, I need to talk to the driver of the car, please!” He begged. The nurse looked at him apologetically.

“Sir, please you need to calm down.” She insisted.

“No! No you don’t understand, it’s important! I need to talk to him!” Lance tried to push past her, but the nurse grabbed him and pulled him back.

“The driver is in critical condition, anyone that isn’t direct family can’t go in there!” She tried to explain. The tears that Lance had been holding back finally flooded over.

Critical condition? No, wait… That meant…

Oh god, Keith.

“What about his passenger…” Lance said weakly. The nurse’s grip loosened.

“He’s awake… I can take you to him if you would like.” She said calmly. Lance looked up and nodded, tears falling down his face. 

“Please?” He pleaded. The nurse nodded softly and looked over at Pidge and Hunk, still huddled together in the middle of the lobby. Lance looked her in the eye and shook his head. He needed to talk to Shiro in private.

He had to tell him the truth.

The nurse led him down a series of halls and doors, talking to him about the details from the crash that he chose to tune out. He wanted to feel bad about Keith. He wanted to feel sick thinking about him on an operation table, or attached to a breathing machine…

But every time he did, he thought about Adam and this strange pang of satisfaction hits him. It scared him so much… but it wouldn’t go away. 

The little voice in his head just kept repeating that maybe Keith deserved it.

The nurse stopped in front of a closed door and took a deep breath, turning to face Lance. 

“Just be careful.” She said sincerely. “He’s still shaken up.”

Lance nodded and gave her a quick but meaningful thank you, placing his hand on the knob. He paused. Shiro was behind this door. He was finally going to be able to tell him the truth.

They were both finally going to get their closure.

He turned the handle slowly and entered the room to find…

“Keith?” His voice betrayed him as looked at the frail boy sitting up on the bed. He looked up at Lance with red eyes and a tear stained face.

“You sound disappointed.” He stated humorlessly. Lance opened his mouth to protest… but closed it again. He was disappointed…

“You… you were the passenger.” Lance whispered breathlessly. “That means Shiro… Oh god.”

Lance buried his face into his hand, choking back a sob. Keith’s face also contorted in pain as he buried it into the blanket on his hospital bed. Lance tried to regain his composure but just couldn’t find it in him. He couldn’t make sense of why Shiro was somewhere in this hospital dying while Keith was sitting right in front of him with barely a scratch. It didn’t make sense, Shiro had never hurt anyone. He’s never done anything bad in his life.

Keith killed Adam. Why did he get to walk away from this completely fine?

“Lance, he…” Keith sobbed. “He put out his arm in front of me when we- we crashed. It was supposed to be me! He’s hurt instead of me!”

Lance looked up, tears still falling from his face as he took a few steps into the room. “Keith.. W-what exactly happened.”

Keith looked up at him with terrified violet eyes. “It’s gone Lance, the whole thing… it’s…” Keith took in a shaky breath. “It was supposed to be me.”

“Keith? Keith what’s gone?” Lance was starting to regain some of his composure, but Keith was even more distraught than before. He shook and sobbed uncontrollably.

“His… his arm, it…” Keith sobbed into the blanket again. “He was trying to save me!” 

Lance felt his chest constrict as he tried to imagine the scene, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. He didn’t want to imagine Shiro, bleeding and helpless as a stranger pulled him out of the wreckage. He didn’t want to think of how scared he must have been as they wheeled him away. 

But now that they were there, he couldn’t get them to go away.

“Keith…” Lance said quietly. “How did you crash?” 

Keith looked up at him, eyebrows knit in confusion. “W-what?”

“Keith, I need to know.” Lance’s voice came out much colder than he wanted it to. “How did you crash?”

Keith looked down at his hands, watching them as he knotted the blanket between his fingers. “T-the brakes…” He whispered, “He tried to hit them, but they didn’t stop. We- we just kept…”

Keith started to sob into his blanket, but Lance could barely hear it. His mind was racing a million miles an hour. 

“We were in the car last night…” Lance muttered. “The breaks were fine. H-he had just gotten them checked. How did the not…”

Lance’s eyes widened. He stood up out of his chair and looked over at the door frantically.

“I-I have to go!” He muttered quickly, taking long strides to the door. He left quickly, leaving a confused and sobbing Keith behind him.

It felt like his legs were on autopilot as he swerved around corners and darted through hallways. His mind reeled as he passed Pidge and Hunk in the lobby. He could hear them calling his name, but he didn’t dare stop as he shoved the hospital doors open and stepped into the cold, late November air.

He jumped off of the curb right in front of a taxi and swung around to the back door once it stopped, ignoring the curses that the driver was throwing to him. He gave the address and sat back, letting his mind piece together the facts that he already knew.

It seemed odd. He receives three folders from some creepy stranger that document an accident that Keith was in and the next night he gets into another one? This seemed too convenient.

As the taxi pulled up in front of his building, Lance pulled a 20 out of his jacket pocket without thinking and shoved it through the payment slot. He muttered a quick thank you and practically leaped out of the car, his pace coming to almost a sprint as he burst through the front doors of the building.

Lance climbed up the stairs rapidly, skipping every other step as he ascended. He ignored the burning in his lungs as he burst through the door to the stairwell and sprinted down to their apartment, fumbling with his keys once he got to their door.

He managed to open it up with his shaking hands and trembling fingers, not wasting any time to run to his and Hunk’s room. Once in, he dropped to his knees and dug under his bed, only allowing his heartbeat to slow down once he felt the thick stack of papers under his fingertips. The files.

He pulled them out and frantically flipped through them, trying to find the description of the car Keith had been driving. He found it in Keith’s file and began to read over it, using his index finger to keep his place.

The car itself had been entirely unsalvageable, completely destroyed on impact. But that’s not what Lance cared about. He found the section on the brakes and stopped.

The brakes on the car had been severely damaged.

Half of the chord connecting the brake pedal to the braking system had been frayed, as if it had come apart from someone putting too much force on it…

But the other half of the chord had been cut clean off. Lance let the files drop from his hands.

This was no accident.

… But something still didn’t make sense. Why would Keith cut the brakes of a car that he knew he was going to be in? It seemed like a suicide mission…

Unless…

Lance looked down at the picture of Adam and placed his hand on it, feeling a pang of guilt. Tears of both terror and relief streamed down his face. 

Keith was innocent.

\-------

Lotor sat on his couch, smiling at his TV screen while it played the local news.

“This just in, a possibly fatal crash in the downtown area tonight as a speeding 2008 black Toyota pickup truck collided with a semi. Police say the driver of the speeding truck was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. The passenger and the Semi driver are both shaken up, but are for the most part not severely injured. More updates as the-.” 

Lotor narrowed his eyes in delight as he turned off the TV. He looked over to the wire cutters sticking out of his coat pocket and gave an amused chuckle.

He always did love it when things went according to plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...  
>  At least it wasn’t a cliffhanger, right?


	15. No Fucking Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AaaaaaaaHHHHHHHHHHHH

Pidge sat with Keith in his room, waiting patiently for any news on Shiro. Technically speaking, Keith could discharge himself any time he was ready, but he had insisted that he stay until both he and Shiro could walk out together.

Shiro’s condition had taken a dramatic turn for the better overnight, going from critical to perfectly stable. Just this morning they had taken into a minor surgery to remove some small bits of glass and metal that they had wanted to wait to take out of his shoulder until they knew how serious his injuries were. Now the two were waiting for Hunk to return with some good news.

The doctor had told them that it was a miracle that Shiro had even survived. Keith felt as though it was an understatement. 

Keith had only known him for almost 2 months, and yet he somehow couldn’t imagine what his life would be like without him. He could be still living with Lotor, or homeless, or…

Honestly, Keith could even be dead.

He owed his life to Shiro in so many different ways. The fact that Shiro could even care about someone like him was enough to make his head spin.

Pidge must have read his mind as she gently put her hand on top of his.

“Hey… he’s going to be fine.” She sounded so much more confident than she did last night. Keith looked up at her and smiled. She smiled back reassuringly. 

“You know, you’re pretty good at this whole ‘comforting people during a crisis’ deal.” Keith couldn’t help but laugh a little. He saw Pidge’s facial expression shift, but in a blink of an eye it went back (though now notably more reserved).

“Well… Let’s just say I’ve got some practice.” Pidge said quietly. Keith raised his eyebrow, but before he could ask her what she meant, Hunk opened the door slowly. Both Pidge and Keith stood up, looking hopeful as they awaited Hunk’s news.

“Ok, the good news is that Shiro’s awake and we can go visit him!” Hunk said, clapping his hands together and smiling brightly. Pidge breathed a sigh of relief while Keith tensed up slightly.

“What’s the bad news?” He asked, trying to hide the fear in his voice. Hunk smiled at him softly.

“He just got out of surgery, so he’s pretty drugged up. He won’t be awake for too long, and while he’s awake he’s gonna be pretty loopy.” Hunk shrugged apologetically. Keith sighed in relief, having been worried about a complication from the surgery. Pidge put her hand on his shoulder.

“He’s ok now… We’ll let you go to him first. You guys need to be able to talk privately for a bit.” Pidge said calmly. Keith smiled at her thankfully and exited the room, making his way down the hall to Shiro’s room. He stopped at the door, hesitating before knocking softly.

“Come in…” Shiro’s drowsy voice answered. Keith opened the door slowly and stepped into the room at the same speed. Shiro looked over from his spot on the bed. His eyes were hazy and unfocused. When he saw Keith, his jaw dropped not-so-subtly.

“Are you a nurse?” He asked, pointing at Keith. “Because you’re like… really hot.”

Keith’s cheeks turned red, but he laughed anyway.

“Shiro it’s me,” he said, going to sit at the edge of the bed. His voice softened. “It’s Keith.”

Shiro’s eyes widened and he smiled brightly. “Keith!” He exclaimed. Then, Keith saw his hazy, joyful eves fill up with tears and his smile fade. “Oh god… Keith.”

He lunged forward and wrapped his arm around the back of Keith’s neck, pulling him towards him. He buried his nose into Keith’s shoulder as Keith rubbed small circles into his back.

“It’s ok… I’m here, it’s fine.” He assured him, holding onto him tight.

“I thought I lost you!” Shiro cried. “I thought I lost you and I was so scared! I can’t lose someone else! Adam was enough, please don’t let me lose you too!”

Keith’s eyes widened. Who was Adam? A friend? A family member?

“Adam?” Keith questioned. Shiro pulled back and let Keith wipe the tears from his eyes.

“He was my fiance…” Shiro admitted in a small voice. “He- he died… last year.”

Keith pursed his lips. Adam… That name… there’s something very familiar about it.

‘Well duh… it’s a pretty common name.’ Keith thought to himself. Keith looked up at Shiro and squeezed his hand.

“What happened him?” Keith asked gently, massaging the back of Shiro’s hand with his thumb. Shiro swallowed hard, and Keith couldn’t tell whether or not his newfound openness was a result of the near-death experience or the cocktail of drugs the doctors had given him (probably the latter).

“There was a car crash…” Shiro said in a quiet, broken voice. “Early in the morning… about 3 am on the corner of Grand and Leavitt…”

That was the moment Keith suddenly felt his world crumble.

Adam Garret. He’d only heard the name once, at the police station.

After he killed him.

Keith suddenly felt sick to his stomach. He had killed Shiro’s fiance… 

He made the mistake of looking up at Shiro, his eyes wide with terror.

This was the man that had barged into the police station early that morning, demanding to see the face of the bastard that killed his fiance… Keith clearly remembered hearing the police telling this man that he wasn’t there as he yelled, screamed, and then broke down crying. 

“Keith.. Are you ok?” Shiro asked. Keith’s could feel the tears stream down his face as he lost all words. Shiro smiled up at him and pressed his face against his chest.

“It’s ok…” He mumbled into the fabric of Keith’s shirt. Keith didn’t deserve him… he didn’t deserve his love.

Keith should have been the one who died in that crash. That’s what he really deserved

He felt all of Shiro’s weight slump onto him as the medication took its effects. Keith had never felt more alone.

\------

“Hey Lance?” Pidge asked, walking in through the door. Lance jumped and looked up from his laptop, relaxing once he saw who it was.

“Oh, hey Pidge!” He smiled weakly. “What’dya need?”

Pidge raised an eyebrow, but decided to chalk up Lance’s strange behavior on the studying he must have been doing.

“I’ve just gotta grab the keys to the rental so I can go pick up Hunk, and our two disaster gays from the hospital.” Pidge shrugged. Lance smiled and shifted in his chair.

“They’re on his dresser in the bedroom. Pardon the mess.” He laughed.

“You been hard at work?” Pidge asked playfully. Lance wrinkled his nose as if to say “depends on what you consider as work” and turned his attention back to his computer. Pidge rolled her eyes and made her way over to Lance and Hunk’s room.

She popped in and saw the keys sitting on the dresser. She was about to leave…

Until she saw them.

Papers scattered all over Lance’s bed. That’s… strange. These don’t look like the homework their class was assigned. She pushed the keys into her pocket and stepped towards them, curiosity getting the best of her. She picked up one of the papers and took a long look at it.

Was this… a police file? Pidge looked closer at the sheet in her hand. Why did Lance have someone’s police file? She looked over at the other papers on the bed. There were mugshots of Keith… pictures of a totaled car…

That’s when she saw Adam.

Tears spilled from her eyes as she realized what this meant. Pidge fell to her knees, praying to anyone that would listen that this was all just some sick joke.

“Pidge? You’ve been in there a long time, did you find-” Lance opened the door and stopped dead in his tracks. Pidge whipped around, the tears falling freely from her eyes.

“Why do you have these?” She asked softly. Lance looked over to the papers in her hand and his face turned ghostly white.

“Pidge… listen, it’s not what it looks like, ok?” Lance assured her. Pidge narrowed her eyes and looked back down at the files.

“...He killed him.” She whispered brokenly. “He killed him and you knew!”

“Pidge, no! Listen, I know this looks bad, but there’s a lot more to it!” Lance took a few large steps forward, trying to grab the papers in Pidge’s hands. But Pidge pulled away as his hand reached out.

“You knew!” She sobbed. Lance looked up at her, hurt.

“Pidge, this is a lot bigger than just you and I! There’s a lot going on that we don’t know about, and if we don’t get answers than Keith is going to end up paying the price!” Lance tried to reach Pidge, desperate for her to understand. Pidge just looked up at him with cold eyes.

“Good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y’all I’m literally writing these like crazy, it’s wild how close this is to the end I’m screaming.
> 
> Once this is over, I’m gonna work on spearheading some rare pairs in this fandom, so that might be fun.


	16. Kiss Your Knuckles Before You Punch Me In The Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please don’t kill me

“Pidge please, you don’t know what you’re doing!” Lance begged, but Pidge wasn’t listening. She wasn’t going to let the person who killed Adam get away with it again.

No matter who it is.

“I know exactly what I’m doing Lance!” She insisted, gathering the papers into her hands and heading towards the door. “I’m going to tell Shiro and Hunk the truth!”

Lance stepped in front of the door. “Katie!” He pleaded, his tone turning serious. “If you show them those files, you won’t be telling them the truth!”

Pidge looked up at her friend, not trying to hide the malice in her eyes. “Why should I believe you?”

Lance opened his mouth to say something, but couldn’t find the words. She did have a point… he had kept these files as a secret from everyone. At this moment she really had no reason to trust him… 

But he needed her to trust him anyway.

“Pidge I promise, keep this between us and I’ll show you all the proof you need! I just need you to give me a few-”

“No!” Pidge yelled, jumping back. “I can’t keep this! Shiro has been beating himself up over this for too long! I can’t watch him suffer anymore! He deserves to know what happened!”

“Pidge, please! If you really love him, just let him be happy not knowing until I can prove Keith’s innocence!” If begging would have worked, then Lance would have fallen on his knees right then and there. Pidge paused, looking up at him in pure disgust.

“If I really love him?” She sneered through gritted teeth. “How about you? You’ll let him develop this… this intimacy with the guy that killed his fiance and then you have the nerve to tell what I would do if I really loved him?”

Lance narrowed his eyes. “Pidge, Keith didn’t do this. I can show you the research I’ve been doing. The brakes on the car, they were-”

“Lance I have to tell him.” Pidge sobbed weakly. “He’s done so much for us… I can’t let him get any closer to Keith without knowing who he really is… Lance, he almost died for him!”

“You don’t know who he really is!” Lance argued. Pidge looked down and gave out a dry, humorless laugh.

“Doesn’t look like any of us did.” She pointed out.

Just then, the door opened.

\--------

“I can’t believe Pidge didn’t come to pick us up!” Hunk said for the twenty-somethingth time as He, Keith, and Shiro got out of the uber in front of their apartment building.

“Well, you never know… something could have come up.” Shiro stated, still clearly feeling a bit dizzy and unbalanced, but glad that he was out of the hospital. It had taken a few days, but the doctors finally decided that he was stable enough to go home.

Keith just stayed quiet, whispering a polite thank you to the uber driver as he got out of the back seat of the car. He knew his silence had been bothering Shiro for the past few days…

But ever since Keith had found out, he just didn’t know what to say.

He knew he had to tell him the truth, but he didn’t know how. There was absolutely no easy way to say this.

Keith could feel that all too familiar turning in his stomach again as he thought of what Shiro would do to him when he found out. This wasn’t like breaking a mug, or even running off with a stranger in the middle of the night…

Keith was suddenly afraid for his life.

“Keith…” Shiro muttered,looking back over his shoulder. “Baby, are you ok?”

Keith winced at the nickname, wanting to beg Shiro to not call him that. His stomach turned as he thought of how Shiro probably used the same pet name with Adam… How he probably called him right before the crash and called him “Baby” How they used to go on dates to the diner downtown, and how they used to kiss in the living room while everyone else was asleep.

Keith was the one who took that away from them.

Shiro looked at him with a worried expression. “Hey, Hunk… you can head up without us.”

Hunk looked back at them. “Are you sure?” He asked, looking between the two of them. Shiro just smiled at him.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine. Just go up there, give Pidge a stern talking to, and make sure everything is smoothed over by the time we get up there.” Shiro laughed. Hunk smiled back at him and headed towards the stairs, telling the two of them to keep the PDA to a minimum.

“Alright, what’s wrong?” Shiro asked after Hunk had disappeared into the stairwell. Keith looked down at his feet.

“I-I need to talk to you…” Keith whispered. “It’s important.”

Shiro smiled at him and pressed hi lips to Keith’s forehead. “Whatever this is, it can wait. Don’t stress yourself out too much.” Shiro’s hand caressed the side of Keith’s face, “Let’s go and get some rest first.”

Keith knew there was no arguing with Shiro when it came to self care and allowed him to take him by the hand and lead him up the stairs to their apartment.

Neither of them were ready for the mess that was behind the door.

As the door swung open, they saw Lance, Hunk, and Pidge standing in the middle of the living room. The argument Lance and Pidge were having ceased. Pidge glared at Keith, tears streaming down her face.

“Pidge, what’s w-” Shiro started.

“Shiro, get back.” Pidge said, taking a step towards the two standing at the door.

“Pidge, what are you…?” Keith trailed off as he saw the absolute hatred in her eyes. Pidge lunged toward him without warning, but was grabbed by Lance. He begged her to calm down as Shiro grabbed Keith’s arm and pulled him behind his back so that he was standing between him and Pidge. Hunk just looked up from the papers in his hands, tears welling up in the corner of his eyes.

“Keith… please tell me it’s not true.” He choked out hoarsely. Keith felt his throat go dry. 

He had the awful feeling that he knew what this was all about.

“What’s going on here?” Shiro demanded, looking absolutely terrified as he stood in front of Keith. Pidge had stopped fighting to get out of Lance’s grip and Just looked Shiro dead in the eyes.

“Hunk… show him what you have.” She said humorlessly. Lance’s eyes widened.

“Hunk, no!” He cried. “You don’t know what’s going on! There’s more to it than what’s there.”

Hunk couldn’t look Lance in the eye as he stuck his hand out to Shiro, a large stack of papers nestled loosely between his shaking fingers.

“Lance… I don’t think there’s a way around this one…” Hunk kept his eyes down as he cried. Lance didn’t respond. He just watched in terror as Shio looked at the three of them with confusion and fear as he opened the yellow envelope.

Keith knew immediately what it was.

He fell to his knees and tried not to cry as Shiro read through the file, his face shifting from confusion to absolute heartbreak. Lance saw Keith sink down and let go of Pidge, running over to wrap his arms around Keith.

“It’s ok man,” He whispered, rubbing small circles into his back. “It’s all ok, we can fix it. It’s going to be fine.”

They both looked up at Shiro, who had his back turned to them. They could see his shoulders shaking as the file fell out of his hand.

“Shiro!” Lance begged. “Shiro please listen to me!” Keith- he didn’t-” Lance was cut off by Keith’s trembling voice.

“I was going to tell you…” He admitted. “In the lobby… I was going to tell you-”

“You knew.” Shiro interrupted. “You knew all along, didn’t you?”

Keith blinked. “N-no! Shiro, I-”

CRACK!

Keith sunk further into Lance’s arms as Shiro’s fist made contact with the wall, cracking it under his fist. Lance tightened his grip, starting to get worried about what Shiro was going to do next.

“Shiro, you’re scaring him!” He yelled, eyes wide. Shiro completely ignored him as he turned around to face them. Keith squeezed his eyes shut so that he wouldn’t have to see his face.

“What was your plan, Keith?” Shiro asked, his words laced with rage. “Stay here, sleeping on a blow-up twin sized mattress and sucking up to me so that maybe you’d get an upgrade? Did you think it was funny trying to get with the fiance of the man that you killed? What were you going to do when I found out?”

Keith opened his eyes, breathing getting heavy as Lance tightened his grip around his chest. Shiro looked him in the eyes and let out a short, dry laugh.

“You didn’t plan on me finding out…” He said to himself. Shiro wiped tears out of his eyes as he turned his head so Keith couldn’t see him. “Just… just get out. Hope you have better luck playing the next sucker stupid enough to fall for a pretty face.”

“Shiro, stop! Just-” Lance stood up, grabbing onto Shiro’s shoulder. Shiro grabbed his arm and threw his hand off, turning his head to face him.

“For fuck’s sake Lance, just stay out of this!” Shiro snapped, tears falling down his face.

Keith didn’t stick around to find out what happened next. He bolted out of the door and down the hall. He could hear Lance calling for him, but he didn’t dare look back. His voice eventually disappeared as Keith bolted down the stairwell.

He ran out of the building and down the street, tears falling down his face as he tried to think of a reason to stop… 

But nothing came to mind. His lungs burned as he ran downtown, finally stopping to lean against the wall of an alleyway between the bank and one of the many pizza restaurants. He took a second to look at the setting sun, watching the streetlights slowly turn on as it got dark.

He had nowhere to go.

Nowhere except…

Keith held back a sob as he pulled out his phone, went to his contacts, and called a number he thought he wouldn’t have to call ever again.

The phone only rang once before Lotor answered.

“I thought you’d be calling sometime soon, baby boy.” His voice cooed.

Whatever chances Keith had once had for a new life were gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, two chapters in a day? Who am I and what have I done with Insertpoetryhere?


	17. They Sent You Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hA I’m sorry

Lance looked out his window as the first snowfall of the year began to sprinkle the ground with a thin white powder. He clutched his warm tea tighter to his chest, focusing on the snowflakes that clung to the screen. 

He sighed, remembering how last year, he and Pidge had ran outside the moment there was a thin blanket of snow on the ground and began throwing it at one another. They hadn’t even bothered to put on gloves, they were just chucking handfuls of snow at one another. They had even managed to get Hunk, Shiro, and Adam in on the action. All five of them, fully grown and severely underdressed for the cold weather, throwing snow at each other directly in front of the apartment building.

Lance laughs to himself as he recalls how Shiro had snuck up behind Adam with both of his arms filled with snow and dumped it right on top of his head. Adam had managed to get him back later on, as they were all warming up with blankets and hot chocolate. He’d grabbed a handful of ice from the freezer and dropped it down the back of Shiro’s shirt as he leaned in for a kiss.

… He was dead a week later.

Lance felt the warm smile on his lips fall as he traced the rim of his mug with his thumb. It was strange to think of how much had changed in just this one year. 

All life in the apartment had died not long after Keith left. The tension between everyone had clung to the air for weeks after. Pidge was mad at Hunk for not being upset enough about what had happened. Shiro was mad at Pidge for trying to comfort him.

Even Hunk had blown up on Shiro last week for trying to emotionally shut down. Lance had felt as if this was the least upsetting thing Shiro had done in this situation, but then again Hunk did always draw the line in a different place than the others did

“We didn’t ask for any of this!” He had yelled. “Don’t take this out on the people who are trying to help!”

Lance looked down at his almost empty cup, knowing he had to get out of bed at some point today. Welp… now or never.

Lance pushed himself off the bed, making his way to the door and pausing before reaching out to grasp the handle. He was definitely in no rush to go out there and face the awkward silence (or worse, the aggravated screams).

Lance looked over at the laptop that was laying on Hunk’s bed, remembering how just last night he had seen Hunk scrolling through a list of available apartments nearby. He had tried to close the laptop before Lance noticed what he was looking at, but it was too late.

Honestly, he didn’t blame him for wanting to get out of here.

Lance opened the door slowly, taking a step out into the hallway. He saw Pidge step out of the living room into the hallway. She looked up, but immediately looked back down once she saw Lance. She then ducked into the bathroom, not once taking her eyes up from the floor.

Lance sighed. Pidge had been doing that pretty often as of recently. While it was much better than the fights that the two of them had back and forth in the beginning, it still hurt. He wanted to tell her that she didn’t have to avoid him. They both made mistakes that day… 

Lance had thought about the mistakes he had made all the time too. If he could have just told her instead of waiting for her to want to hear it, then maybe they would be ok. He wouldn’t have to be worried that Keith was curled up in some alley, or huddled up against a street lamp for warmth… or dead in a ditch. Lance pushed that last thought out of his head as he turned the corner and headed for the kitchen.

He honestly felt bad for Pidge and Hunk. It was easy to tell that the guilt was eating them alive.

“Lance..” A voice muttered weakly. Lance looked up, narrowing his eyes at Shiro as he stepped into the kitchen.

He was a whole different story.

Shiro didn’t outwardly show an ounce of remorse. Not one. These days, he just sulked around the apartment and mentally shut down when he’d see something that reminded him of Keith. It was the same thing he had done when Adam died. Back then, Lance had felt pity for him. It had been a lot to process, and he knew that Shiro was only shutting down because there was nothing he could do.

This time, there was a lot he could do. Call him, apologize, listen to what he had to say. No, this time Lance didn’t look at Shiro and feel pity.

He looked at Shiro and felt utterly disgusted.

Lance didn’t speak, he just walked himself over to the Keurig and start sifting through the box of k-cups, looking for one that he could use to refill his tea.

Shiro reached into the fridge, pulling out the gallon of milk.

“So… Christmas is coming up!” Shiro tried to start up a conversation. Lance tapped his finger on the countertop.

“So it would seem.” He stated dully. Shiro looked at him expectantly, waiting for an answer. When he inevitably didn’t get one, he opened his mouth to speak again.

“I might be going Christmas shopping this week… anything you want?” Shiro didn’t sound too sure as he poured his glass of milk. Lance didn’t dare look up at him as he grabbed his mug out from underneath the Keurig, stirring the tea inside with a spoon full of honey.

“Do you really want to know what I want, Shiro?” Lance looked up, glaring at his roommate. He seemed to be the only one in the apartment that didn’t care about bringing up what happened with Keith. Pidge and Hunk had told him countless times that it wasn’t worth it, that all it did was make Shiro upset.

Well fuck Shiro getting upset, he wasn’t going to stop bringing it up until someone listened to him.

Shiro knew what was coming, but didn’t say a word. Instead, he hung his head and prepared himself for what was about to come.

“I want to know that Keith is somewhere safe, and that he isn’t dying on the side of a road somewhere.” Lance pushes out with malice. “But I guess we don’t always get what we want.”

“Lance…” Shiro said, the frustration clear in his voice. “Please-”

“It’s been a month, and no one has seen him!” Lance reminded him, slamming his mug down onto the counter. “That doesn’t strike you as a little odd?”

Shiro pursed his lips, his eyes narrowing as he stared intently at his glass of milk. “He killed Adam. He can go die on the road for all I care. He d-”

“Don’t you dare say he deserves it, you don’t know half of it!” Lance yelled. Shiro balled up his fists and leaned on the counter.

“Lance, please! I don’t want to hear your stupid brake conspiracy!” Shiro was trying to keep a level head. Lance could tell he was trying. But it wasn’t enough.

“If you’d just listen to-” Lance started, his voice still angry but significantly softer. Shiro cut him off by slamming his fists down on the counter.

“I think I’ve listened enough!” Shiro caved in, letting his frustration take over. Lance furrowed his brows.

There was a beat of silence.

“... Then please, don’t let me make you ‘listen’ any more.” Lance turned away, leaving his tea were it was. “Expect me out by the end of the week.”

He walked past Pidge in the hallway, knowing that she had heard every word of their conversation.

“Lance, wait!” She called out. Lance ignored her as he walked by, going directly into his and Hunk’s…

Going directly into Hunk’s room.

Lance closed the door, sighing as he felt the first few tears rolling down his face. He never wanted it to come to this. He’d been fighting with Shiro for the past month, holding onto the hope that Shiro would one day listen to what he had to say. Of course, that didn’t seem to be working too well for anyone involved. 

‘Welp… only have till the end of this week.’ Lance thought, cursing himself for giving himself a nearly impossible deadline. ‘Better get going.’

Lance was about to get off of the floor and start packing up when he heard a knock at the door.

Great. It was probably Hunk coming to try and smooth things over.

“Come in.” He called, wanting to get this over with.

You can only imagine his surprise when it was Pidge who came into the room, eyes focused on the floor and an envelope clutched in her small hand.

“Lance, I… I need to talk to you.” She said quietly. Lance looked up and sighed.

“Then talk.” He deadpanned, shifting his focus to pulling his clothes out of their drawers and arranging them on his bed.

“It’s about Keith-” Pidge started. Lance grunted in frustration.

“If you came to lecture me then don’t waste your breath!” He huffed. Pidge gathered up the courage to walk closer, turn Lance around, and look him in the eye.

“I came to say you were right!” She admitted. Lance was stunned, but before he could say anything, she thrusted the open envelope into Lance’s hands. He looked down, inspecting it further.

The letter had been addressed to Shiro from the insurance agency. When Lance slid out the letter and read through it, he saw that it was a report on Old Black. Lance looked up at Pidge, confused.

“When did you-?” He asked, wondering how she had gotten this past Shiro.

“It came in the mail two weeks ago… I wanted to look at it before Shiro did because I wanted to prove to myself that you were wrong…” Pidge sighed and pointed to the paragraph that described the condition of the braking system. “Instead, I got this.”

Lance’s eyes scanned over the paragraph Pidge was pointing to. There it said it all…

The braking system had been severely damaged.

“I compared it to the description on the police files… and they were identical.” Pidge looked down at the ground in shame. “Lance, you were right.”

Pidge paused, pushing up her glasses and looking Lance straight in the eye.

“Keith was framed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo
> 
> I get a lot of questions on other platforms about requests, following the progress on on going works, and announcements on new works and I was always like “oh wow, I need a place where people can do that”.
> 
> Well, now there is a place where people can do all of that.
> 
> If you happen to be interested in keeping up with new projects or knowing when I update older ones, be sure to follow me on Twitter at *insertpoetryhere*


	18. Never Graduating Up In Size

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING!!!
> 
> This chapter has heavily implied rape/non con and references suicide, drug use, and overdoses!
> 
> Please proceed with caution!

Keith couldn’t recognise himself anymore.

All he could think of when he looked in the mirror was how disgusting this new person was that was staring back at him. He put his hand up to a scar that was forming on his cheek from a cut he’d gotten some time last week and tried to hold back tears. 

His eyes wandered down to his sickly pale skin and scarily thin frame littered with bruises. Some were large, like the one forming along the center of his ribcage. Some were smaller, like the ones that littered his neck and collarbone. Some of them he couldn’t even bring himself to look at, like the ones that were forming along his hips that had a sickeningly similar size and shape to this boyfriend’s hands.

Those ones were from his punishment from last night, after he passed out and broke the plate he was holding. He hadn't eaten in awhile… not that it mattered.

Lotor wasn’t even angry… just violent.

He had been since he came back. He didn’t get mad… he just seemed to find more joy in giving Keith harsher punishments. It made Keith sick, remembering how he used to lose sleep at night as he wondered whether or not he deserved all of it…

At least this time around, he knew he did.

Keith limped out of the bathroom, pain shooting up his spine with every step that he took towards the bed. Last night had taken its toll on him… as did the nights before that.

Keith used to fight it. He used to try and come up with some excuse to why he couldn’t let Lotor have his way with him…

They never worked. They just made it hurt more.

Now, Keith would just close his eyes and pretend he was somewhere else. He’d pretend Lotor was someone else. There were the days where his brain would play a cruel trick on him and he’d imagine Shiro.

That was the only thing that hurt even more than the truth.

Keith tried to sit down on the mattress, but it hurt to badly.

This mattress was cold, hard, full of painful memories.

Keith would often think of his warm blow up twin mattress that he could only assume had gone back to collecting dust in the back of the linen closet. He wondered if they noticed the coffee stain on it from when Pidge tripped and sent her mocha flying onto his bed. He wondered if Lance gagged when he smelled the strong scent of swedish fish on the sheets. 

… He didn’t deserve to think about them.

He knew that they didn’t want him to.

Even Lance, who had been the only one to stand up for him, had probably seen the error of his ways by now and had joined the others in wishing he was dead.

He was lucky that they had put up with him for as long as they did. 

Keith was jolted violently from his thoughts by the sound of the front door opening.

No… 

No no no, please no!

He heard footsteps coming closer to the bedroom. Keith grabbed the comforter and tried to cover himself up, closing his eyes and hoping he wouldn’t come in.

Despite his please, Lotor opened the door slowly, stepping into the room with grace.

Please no.

\-----------

Keith had changed a lot.

When Lotor had gone to get him a month ago from an alley downtown. Cold, shaking, crying.

If Keith’s spark had been faded before he ran away, then it was completely extinguished now. He had nothing left to live for.

Lotor hated every second of it.

He was desperate, hurting him in ways he never had before just to get some kind of reaction. At first, Keith would fight back.Just barely, but he was still fighting.

He gave up fighting about 3 weeks ago. When he locked himself in the bathroom. Keith was small, thin, and had a very low tolerance for most substances.

He knew what he was doing when he tried to swallow that whole bottle of pills. 

His fight was dead. Now, all he did was lie down and take anything Lotor threw his way. It’s what he had done last night, and it is what he was preparing himself to do when Lotor opened the bedroom door.

“Hey, baby.” Lotor’s voice was as sweet as it could be as he settled himself down next to Keith on the bed. Keith closed his eyes tighter, sinking away from Lotor as he sat down.

Now, that wouldn’t do at all.

Lotor smiled devilishly as he snaked his hand up to Keith’s thigh. He felt the muscles under his palm tense as he dug his nails into the soft skin that showed just under the hem of Keith’s boxers.

Lotor would never admit out loud how much he loved seeing Keith in pain. There was something about the way he would try to cover it up that just made Lotor’s ego inflate.

So you can imagine how disappointing it was to see Keith’s pained expression disappear. It was replaced by the all too familiar face of regret that Keith would often get when he tried to mentally escape. 

Lotor narrowed his eyes. He knew what this meant. He wasn’t stupid.

The only other time that he would make this expression was if Lotor happened to mention Takashi Shirogane. He couldn’t help but laugh a little. It was humorless and dry, but a laugh nonetheless.

One would assume that Lotor wouldn’t have to feel threatened by him anymore. Between the news source that last said he was in critical condition after the accident and the way Keith would remain dead silent and remorseful whenever he was mentioned…

Well, Lotor felt it was more than safe to assume that the bastard was dead.

But he always came back. Whenever Lotor would touch Keith, kiss keith… fuck Keith. Keith thought of him. It was like the son of a bitch just couldn’t stay dead.

“Him again…” He muttered, Keith looked up at him, but before he could say anything, Lotor grabbed him by the throat and pinned him down onto the mattress, squeezing hard. Keith struggled to gasp for air as Lotor looked down at his naked torso. His eyes settled on a yellowish bruise along his ribs. With one quick motion, Lotor took his free arm and swund in down. His elbow struck the injury square in the middle, causing Keith’s tears to spill over and the terror return to his eyes.

“Didn’t learn our lesson last night, did we baby?” Lotor sneered, punctuating his statement with an even tighter grip around Keith’s neck. He waited until Keith’s face started to turn a strange shade of light purple before letting go. His smile grew as Keith gasped and coughed for air, seeing the bruise that was already forming. His hands traced their way down to Keith’s hips, where he pressed down on the two bruises he had made along them last night. Keith cried out in pain.

“Well then,” Lotor ran his hand under Keith’s boxers. “Looks like my job isn’t done…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I... am so sorry.
> 
> But to be fair, you all wanted to know what happened.


	19. She Hopes I’m Cursed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Twenty years late but that’s fine

Pidge never thought this day would actually come.

Sure, she’d known that they couldn’t all stay together forever, living in their tiny apartment that was only getting smaller by the day. But… she thought they had time.

But seeing Lance pack up the last of his stuff had her mind reeling.

“Just like that, huh?” She asked quietly, venom dripping from her mouth. She saw Lance clench his jaw, not sure if it was out of anger or shame.

“I can’t do it anymore, Pidge. I told you I was leaving today, and I am.” He tried not to let the hurt in his voice show through. When Pidge had heard him mention that his sister had a place across town during one of their late night searches, she hadn’t put too much thought in it. But seeing him start to pack up the next day did the job of clearing it up all too well.

“What about Keith?” Pidge asked, the anger rising up in her throat. Lance tensed.

“Just because I’m moving doesn’t mean we have to stop looking for Keith.” He tightened his grip on the shirt he was holding in his hands. Pidge narrowed her eyes.

He knew that’s not what she meant.

“We agreed that we were going to find him and bring him home!” She clenched her fists, daring to step from the doorway and into the little room. Lance slammed his fists onto the bare mattress, causing the old springs to moan in agony.

“This isn’t much of a home now, is it?” Lance pointed out, now unable to hide his rage. “If we brought him here, Shiro would kill him no questions asked.”

“Do you really believe he would do that?” Pidge took another step towards him, eyebrows furrowed. “Does that really sound like the Shiro you know?”

“The Shiro I knew is gone, Pidge!” Lance yelled. “I have no fucking clue who that asshole is, but that isn’t Shiro!”

Pidge froze. There was no denying how much Shiro had changed because of all this. He was short-tempered, easy to set off. He tried to keep his cool, but it would melt away as soon as anyone mentioned Keith, or Adam, or anything else along those lines. He was different now…

But he was still there Shiro.

“How do you expect him to come back if you don’t tell him the truth about Adam and Keith?” Pidge did it. She set the match and lit the forbidden fuse. Telling Shiro was a touchy subject, one only made worse by Lance’s newfound hatred towards his former mentor and best friend.

“Pidge…” Lance’s voice sounded like a warning, half begging her to stop where she was and half daring her to continue.

“We have all the proof! We know he’s innocent! If you’d just let me sit Shiro down and explain things to him, then-!” Pidge was interrupted by Lance, who turned around to finally look her in the eye.

“Shiro won’t listen! No matter what we do, he’s never going to listen!” His voice was hoarse and his eyes were just as angry as they were tired. Pidge stood firm, never removing her steely gaze from him.

“He won’t listen? Or you won’t let him?” Her voice was cold. Lance opened his mouth, but no words came out. Instead, he averted his eyes to the ground and pulled the box off of the empty bed, pushing past Pidge as he hurried to shove it in the back of Veronica’s van along with all of his other belongings. 

Pidge could see the pink, blue, and yellow striped bandana that Keith had gotten Lance on the second day he’d stayed there poking out of the side. She choked back a sob.

“Don’t worry Keith…” she muttered under her breath. “We’ll find you.”

She stomped over to her and Shiro’s room with purpose, slamming the door shut and fishing under her bed. When her fingers brushed up against an overflowing folder, filled to the brim with every article about cars, breaks, wire cutting, and crashes that she and Lance could find.

She held it close to her chest as she made her way to the living room.

There was Shiro, looking down at his feet as Lance passed by with his last box. The two didn’t so much as glance up at each other as he walked by. 

Hunk was the bravest of the bunch, looking Lance dead in the eye as he walked past. Pidge could see Lance’s stone cold face soften as he looked up at Hunk. Hunk pulled Lance in for a hug, which the latter leaned into, shifting the heavy box in his arms.

The two pulled away without a word, and Lance slipped out the door silently. Leaving no trace that he was ever there.

Pidge looked over at Shiro, who had just now collected the nerve to look up from the floor. His eyes were sunken in, and his hands were pale and shaky. This made Pidge’s job that much easier.

Her eyes twinkled with sympathy as she set the folder in her arms down on the Kitchen table. Shiro looked down at it, and then looked back up at her.

Pidge just sighed and slipped away.

She couldn’t make him read it.

She couldn’t even guarantee that he would believe it.

But she could give him the chance.

\----------

Shiro couldn’t believe it.

Shiro didn’t even know if he wanted to believe it.

Of all the curveballs life had thrown at him recently, this one seemed to hit him right in the jaw.

Shiro ran his fingertips over the pages that were tucked neatly into the small folder, almost hoping to find a flaw in this theory. Some crack that would send it all tumbling. But when he didn’t find anything, he just leaned forward and supported his head on his equally weak arm.

Keith…

His Keith.

He tried not to remember the way Keith had looked the first night they had met.

Cold.

Alone.

Bruised.

Scared.

Shiro felt the warm tears roll down his cold face and fall onto the papers below him.

Oh god… what has he done?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gotta love some self realization


	20. My Nightmares Will Have Nightmares Every Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MAJOR WARNING!!!
> 
> This chapter contains suicide, attempted suicide, major character death, emotional manipulation, etc.
> 
> Pretty much it’s about to go down

Keith couldn’t do it.

Not any more.

As he lay sprawled out on his back, cold and trembling, all he could think about was how distant he felt. Like he wasn’t even in his own body. The mattress shifted underneath him as Lotor stood up. He could hear the footsteps moving towards the bathroom and the distant sound of running water shortly after.

How could he make this feeling stop?

He tried to close his eyes and tried to think of something to soothe this pain, but none of his tricks worked this time. His mind began drifting off to different ways he could numb the pain…

That’s when he remembered the gun on the top shelf of the hallway closet. Lotor had only shown it to him once, but he was sure he could find it.

He lifted himself slowly off of the bed, careful not to wake Lotor as he sleeps beside him and allows his feet to carry him out of the door. His mind seems to be in a different world as he reaches the closet, his shaking hands outstretched as he feels the first glimmer of hope that he had felt in a long time. He opened the door with tears falling down his cheeks, relief flooding over him as he realized it would all be over soon.

He could see the box sitting on the top shelf, nestled into its box as the faint light of the street lights filled the room through the windows. The solution to all of his problems, right in his reach…

As he lifted his arm and reached up for the box, fingertips brushing the hard, cold wood. His unsteady hands knocked over the small plastic bin next to it, spilling the contents all over the hallway floor as the pulled the wooden box down from the shelf. His fingers brushed over the lid, a sense of bliss filling him as he escaped farther into his own mind.

Just a few more minutes and it was all going to be over. No more fear, no more regret, just the comforting, empty silence. 

The box wasn’t locked, and the lid opened with no resistance whatsoever. The small handgun sat idly inside, loaded and ready. Keith pulled it out and set the box down, pointing the gun at his temple and smiling… 

This was it.

He was going to be free…

That’s when he looked down and saw what had fallen out of the plastic bin.

“What… is that-?” He whispered to himself, kneeling down and sifting through the mess on the floor. Pictures? Keith narrowed his eyes. They weren’t just any pictures. They were grainy images of a black pick-up truck. But the strangest part was the clearly recognizable dent in the front bumper, the expired license plate, the chipped headlight...

They were pictures of Old Black. Shiro’s truck. Why would Lotor have photos of Shiro’s truck? Keith pushed the pictures off to the side, digging deeper into the pile. He found pictures of his old car, the one he’d totaled in the accident a few years ago. But why did Lotor have these pictures?

That’s when he found it.

At first glance, Keith wasn’t sure what it was. It just looked like some kind of strange optical illusion, printed out from some website and annotated with hastily written notes. It took him a bit to realize what it was.

A drawing of the brake system of a car, with one specific area circled in purple ink.

Keith thought back to the night he hit Adam, which felt like it had been a lifetime ago. How he had blamed his inability to stop in time on his drunken state. His mind took him back to the passenger seat of Shiro’s truck, watching him press down on the breaks as hard as he could with no luck.

That’s when it all clicked together.

Keith was only distantly aware of the sound of the bedroom door opening.

\--------

Of all the things Lotor expected to find at midnight, he had to admit this was not one of them. Keith sat on his knees, curled up on the floor and surrounded by stray papers. Lotor sighed and stepped forward.

“Keith, it’s early. Let’s get back to bed.” He stated humorlessly. Despite the clear warning in Lotor’s tone, Keith didn’t move a muscle. Lotor looked down at him, unamused.

“Keith?” He asked, his voice growing into a growl as he began to lose his temper. Still, Keith didn’t move.

“You cut the brakes…” Keith whispered. Lotor blinked, not sure he heard him right. He felt a bit of perspiration build up despite the cold weather.

“W-what do you mean?” He asked innocently. His anxiety only grew as Keith sat there, silent and perfectly still. “You aren’t making any sense. Let’s just go to bed and-”

“No.” Keith interrupted. Lotor felt a new type of fear creep up in him, mixing in with the anger he felt from being denied.

“Baby… you should know by now that there is no saying ‘no’ to me-” He reached out to grab Keith’s shoulder, but the dark-haired boy moved away. He finally looked up at Lotor with his dark purple, sunken eyes. There wasn’t a trace of fear in them. Just pure malice.

“You killed him.” He whispered hoarsely. “You tried to kill Shiro.”

Lotor’s eyes narrowed. “I did it for us.”

Keith shook his head, looking as though he had just had a revelation. “No… no you didn’t. You don’t do anything for ‘us’. Just for you.”

Lotor felt a panic rise up in him. “You were going to leave me.” He reminded him. “You did leave me! I had to get you back! If this is anyone’s fault, it’s yours!”

Keith looked up at him once again, not with hate, or anger. Just with genuine relief.

“No… it’s not.” He said, his small voice light and airy. “It’s not my fault.”

Lotor felt the panic reach its full capacity as the final puzzle piece snapped into place with a bruising force. If Keith didn’t fear him, there was nothing keeping him there anymore. Nothing will keep him here with Lotor if he isn’t afraid. Lotor’s eyes fell on the gun that was laying off to the side of Keith’s paper pile and grabbed it without thinking.

He aimed it right for Keith’s temple.

“Say you didn’t see this.” He says, his tone giving off a warning. Keith looked him in the eye for the first time in a long time, with no fear. Lotor’s hands started to shake.

“Say it! Say it or I’ll shoot!” Lotor begged, growing pathetic. Keith couldn’t leave him. Lotor was nothing without him. “Say it!”

“Do you remember the night we met?” Keith asked softly. “You told me the only thing you were afraid of is turning out like your father.”

Lotor felt himself losing his composure. His hold on the handgun was starting to slip as he tried to ignore what Keith said. “Say. It.”

“I never met him… But I genuinely think that you aren’t like him at all,” Keith looked down at the picture in his hand. “You’re so much worse.”

Lotor felt the gun fall from his hand as the world seemed to fade away momentarily. Keith stood up, looking at him with nothing but honesty. Lotor couldn’t look away from the pile of papers at Keith’s feet.

What hurt the most is that he was right.

“Go…” He whispered, his mind wandering elsewhere. This was not the Keith he had known, but also not the Keith he had grown used to. This Keith had formed right in front of his eyes. This was someone who he couldn’t control.

Keith didn’t say anything as he walked away. He didn’t even so much as look back over his shoulder as Lotor fell to the ground, crouching on his knees.

He wondered what the next step would be. Would Keith call the cops? Would he come back and punish him himself?

No. Lotor may have lost, but that didn’t mean he had to give Keith the satisfaction of knowing that he had won. With his still shaking hands, Lotor picked up the gun once again, this time pressing it to the side of his own head.

Lotor’s neighbors had grown far too used to hearing loud noises coming from his apartment in the dead of night.

So the gunshot didn’t even make them flinch.

\-------

Keith was cold, dizzy, and reeling with an overwhelming feeling of disorientation as he burned through the last bit of his adrenaline. He didn’t know if it was the lack of food, sleep, or water that had him stumbling his way to only god knows where, but he was sure it was one of those three reasons.

He didn’t know where he was going, but trekked through the snow anyway. After all, anywhere was better than where he had been.

The neon lights of a gas station sign blinded him as he stumbled inside. Something in the back of his mind must have recognized the place, since he chuckled slightly to himself. Seems fitting to end up exactly where he started.

He looked up and saw a pair of wide brown eyes, glossed over with tears and discolored slightly by her wire-rimmed glasses. The freckles across her nose seemed to move around her face in the bright, disorienting light and She moved her mouth as if she was calling out for him.

Pidge.

Keith smiled at her before hitting the hard, linoleum floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not sorry


	21. Graduating up in Size to Add Another

“Is he ok?” Shiro rushed in through the doors of the 7-11, eyes frantic as he scanned the room for any sign of life. His breathing almost stopped entirely when he saw Keith lying there, Pidge crying and looming over him.

He looked worse than he did the day they met.

His eyes were sunken in, and his skin was sickly pale. He was skinny, scarily so. It looked as though the wind could send him falling to the ground. His hips were jutting out from under his thin white t-shirt and his jeans looked as if the ill-fitting belt around his waist was the only thing stopping them from falling off of his small frame.

His lips were blue and chapped from the cold, drawing in shallow, constricted breaths as Pidge shook him and begged him to wake up.

But what Shiro noticed first were the bruises. They were everywhere; Under his eyes, along his thin arms, and poking out on his hips that poked out from the hem of his shirt.

Shiro wanted to sink to his knees and cry, knowing this was his fault. If he had just listened…

“Oh god, Keith…” He whispered. He looked up at Pidge, who had already been panicking when she had called him and told him what had happened. Now she was absolutely hysterical, sobbing and screaming as she shook Keith’s shoulders violently.

“Did you call 911?” Shiro asked, kneeling next to Keith and trying desperately to feel for a pulse. Pidge nodded her head.

“I-I called them a few minutes after I called you!” She choked out. “They still aren’t here.”

Shiro held back his snarky comments about how he figured as much as his fingers brushed past a faint, pulsing sensation. Keith’s heartbeat was slow, but there. He was alive, but just barely.

“C’mon baby, stay with me!” He begged. The next few minutes flew by in a rush of lights, sounds, and colors. Paramedics bursted through the doors and throw Shiro off of Keith, placing him carefully on the stretcher and wheeling him away. Shiro sits motionlessly, leaning against the rack of snacks and magazines as he watches Keith disappear behind the corner. 

Pidge fell into his lap, sobbing uncontrollably as his hand absent-mindedly stroked through her hair. It was as if the weight of the situation was taking it’s sweet time trying to lay down on him. By the time it finally did, the ambulance was zooming off as police began to surround them, asking question after question. He wasn’t sure how to answer most of them as he stared off into space. Pidge stayed curled up against his chest, unable to answer too many questions either aside from short, one word replies.

“Do you know what happened?” One asked. Shiro looked up at them, teary eyed and still cradling a sobbing Pidge in his arms. The officer calmly, though it was clear that the situation was frustrating. Soon enough, the questioning was over and the two were offered a ride to the hospital. 

The drive was only a few minutes, but felt like a century. As Pidge began to regain enough composure to call Lance and Hunk, Shiro looked out of the window and tried to count the cars passing by.

His heart was hammering out of his chest as he attempted to make sense of the situation. Keith’s physical state just confirmed his worst fear. He had to have gone back to Lotor, there’s no doubt about it.

But the question was how did he get away? Shiro only had limited knowledge about this ex, but it was enough to scare him shitless. What if he tried to come find him again? The thoughts spun around in his head until he was almost ready to throw up. 

Going into the hospital felt so different than last time. The tile floor and bright lights suddenly felt so foreboding. It was like walking into some kind of hell, following This officer and knowing that he couldn’t go much farther than the desk. 

He had thought being wheeled in bleeding and barely alive was the scariest thing to ever happen to him, but now he was starting to have second thoughts. By the time they had reached the doors Keith was already long gone, wheeled off to some examination room. Shiro didn’t know whether this was more or less comforting.

On one hand, at least now Keith was with a doctor and not two scared kids on the floor of a dirty 7/11. But on the other hand, what if this was it? What if it was even worse than they thought?

… What if Keith never came out?

Shiro pushed the thought away. No, losing Keith wasn’t an option. Shiro had far too much to say to him for him to go now. Keith can’t… Keith won’t die on him. Not now, not ever.

“Any news?” Hunk rushed in, looking disheveled and breathless. His winter coat hung lopsided on his shoulders, unzipped and nearly falling off of his torso. His hat was on inside out and his boots were only partially laced. Shiro had to remind himself that no matter how bad Hunk looked right now, he probably looked 10 times worse (it was not a pretty mental image). 

“Nothing yet,” He barely managed to choke out. He looked up at Hunk, hesitating before asking anything. “Is… is Lance coming?”

Hunk looked him in the eye, a small reassuring smile tugging at the ends of his lips. “Yeah, he’s on his way.” 

Shiro couldn’t help but feel relieved. As silly as it seemed, he had been worried Lance wouldn’t show because he was there. He knew even Lance wasn’t that petty, but it had still been creeping in the back of his mind. Frankly, he owed Lance an apology too.

Lance walked through the door not long after, no winter gear whatsoever. He stood, entire body shivering from the cold as he ran up to the reception desk. Pidge saw him and jumped up, running straight into his arms. Hunk followed close by, clasping Lance around his shoulders. 

But Shiro still did not move. He kept his eyes glued on the door that separated the ER waiting room from the rest of the hospital, counting each minute that he sat there without news. He recalled something he had read once, about how for every minute the family is left waiting, a certain percent chance of the patient living decreases. The entire article had been blatantly untrue, so why now did his mind decide to remember it?

Is it because they’ve been sitting here for almost 2 hours?

Shiro jumped a little when he felt a hand set itself gently on his shoulder. 

“Hey…” Lance whispered. Shiro looked up at him, mouth suddenly going dry. He tried to think of something to say, but couldn’t think of how to begin.

“Lance… listen, I-” He began. Lance cut him off, holding his hand up.

“Pidge already told me… I’m just glad you came around.” Lance said. Shiro felt his shoulders relax, allowing himself to look Lance in the eye.

“I wish I had done it sooner.” He admitted. Lance frowned a little.

“Yeah…” Lance sighed. He then let out a short, dry laugh. “You aren’t the only one. I’m sure we all wish we had done something differently.”

Shiro looked down at his feet. “You weren’t the ones who kicked him out.” 

“Hey, don’t even start!” Lance insisted. He put both of his hands on Shiro’s shoulders, prying his attention away from the floor. “You can sit here and blame yourself all you want, but that doesn’t change anything! What happened is already done! The important thing is-.”

“Lance, you were there! You heard what I said…” Shiro trailed off. Lance sighed.

“You thought he killed Adam… you weren’t thinking right.” Lance squeezed his shoulder reassuringly, but Shiro could still feel the anxiety rise up into his chest.

“I said that I wished he was dead…” Tears threatened to spill out of his eyes as he thought of what he would do to just take that one sentence back.

Lance opened his mouth, but couldn’t think of a response. Shiro’s fist tightened.

“You should have seen him… God, it was so bad.” He imagined Keith, still laying on that 7/11 floor, exhausted and sickly. That’s when his mind pulled forward an image of Lotor, all smug and confident. “I swear, the next time I see the bastard who-”

“Stop, that’s not going to help!” Lance insisted. “We need to focus on helping Keith, this guy isn’t worth any of our time… As satisfying as it would be to beat that fucker within an inch of his life, that’s not what Keith needs right now.”

Shiro bit the inside of his cheek, still not convinced. Just thinking about Keith bruised, bloody, and scared was enough for him to contemplate murder. But Lance was right… even if he had shown up at their door and beat the shit out of him, it wouldn’t have helped. Shiro would get in trouble and Keith wouldn’t have been any better off.

“Shiro, Keith needs you.” Lance added. Shiro tensed up, but before the conversation could go any further he noticed the hallway door open. Shiro turned around to fast it almost gave him whiplash. He watched intently as the doctor walked up to them, a clipboard held firmly in both of her hands.

“Are you here for Keith Kogane?” She asked sternly. Shiro nodded as Pidge and Hunk ran over, eager and terrified at the same time.

“You can all relax, he’s going to be fine.” She said, sensing the tension in the room. “He’s fractured his wrist and is pretty malnourished, but it’s nothing that some rest and a healthier diet can’t fix… He’s awake now, if you want to see him.”

Shiro nodded and looked back at the group, waving his hand as a way to politely say “Let’s go”. But instead of moving, they all gave him a soft, reassuring smile. Lance clapped his hand on Shiro’s back.

“You go ahead, we’ll catch up in a sec.” He said carefully. Shiro blinked, but then smiled at his friend and followed the doctor down the hall as fast as his legs could carry him.

The doctor begins to drone on about things that Shiro can barely understand as she leads him down hall after hall. He keeps track of the numbers beside every door, and tries to count how many rooms away they are. There’s something so comforting about thinking that every time they pass a room, they’re just a little bit closer to Keith.

When the doctor finally stops and opens the door, Shiro wastes no time running in. He takes a good long look at Keith. Sickly, pale, skinny, and bruised Keith. He looks awful… but he’s alive. Keith looks up at him and his eyes widen in fear as he suddenly sits up straight. The look in his eyes breaks Shiro’s heart, and the tears he had held back all night spill out of his eyes nonstop.

“I’ll leave you two alone.” The doctor says, gently shutting the door behind her. The two sit in silence for a second.

“Keith… I-” 

“Shiro, I didn’t-” The two start, but promptly cut eachother off on accident. Shiro looks down at his feet, an action that keith takes as a sign to continue. “I didn’t kill him… I know it looks like I did, but I found these papers and I- I didn’t-”

Shiro looked back up once he heard Keith’s sobs. Keith had curled up into a ball, sobbing into his hands as he struggled to find the words. Shiro rushed over to him, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling him closer to his chest as fast as he could.

“I- I didn’t do it! L-Lotor, he-” Keith stuttered, but Shiro cut him off by holding him tighter.

“I know, I know you didn’t. It’s ok…” He sighed, pressing his lips softly to the crook of Keith’s neck as his fingers traced small circles on his back. He waited for the crying to die down before he pulled back partially and rested his forehead against Keith’s. “It’s ok… You’re ok.”

The two sat on the bed, letting themselves cry. They knew there were a lot of questions that needed answers, and a lot of things they still had to say. But for now, it was best that some of those were put to the side for a moment. Right now, they were ok. They were together.

That’s what mattered.

“I know you’re scared, but there’s something I need to ask you…” Shiro whispered carefully. Keith looked up at him, eyes rimmed with red.

“Yeah?” He croaked, his voice still weak. Shiro’s heart clenched in pain.

“Do you know where he is? Lotor?” Shiro tried to hide the hate in his voice, but some of it still seeped through. This man had taken everything from him. Adam. His arm. And now he had almost taken Keith. He had to know where he was.

Keith tensed, looking down at the cast on his wrist.

“When I was leaving, I- there was a gunshot…” Keith swallowed the lump in his throat. “I think he’s…”

Dead.

The news left a bittersweet taste in Shiro’s mouth. On one hand, he was glad the bastard was dead. But on the other, he still wished he had been able to tear him limb from limb. A gunshot felt too merciful for him.

But one look into Keith’s eyes made Shiro remember what Lance had said.

Keith needed him.

He let Keith fall forward, back into the comfort of his chest as he cried. Shiro brought his hand up to his hair and ran his fingers through the tangled locks. He pressed a kiss to his forehead and whispered words of encouragement into his ear.

No matter what had happened 2 years ago, 1 year ago, last month, last week, or even in the last hour. No matter what was going to happen, Shiro knew one thing for sure.

As he sat on that hospital bed, cradling Keith, he knew one thing for sure. They weren’t ok. Not yet. There was still a lot to do and a lot to say before they could go back to being ok.

But they were going to be ok eventually. No matter how long it took. 

Shiro would make sure of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry about the long wait. Those who follow me in Twitter may already know, but for those who don’t please let me explain. 
> 
> I recently got hit by a car (call it karma if you will, I am sorry Adam) and I’ve been in a bit of a recovery period for a while. I’m going to be fine and I’m very sorry for not uploading this when I said I would, life literally hit me like a bus. 
> 
> I know it’s not the longest hiatus this fic has gone on, but I did break a promise to you guys and for that I’m very deeply sorry.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed anyway ❤️


	22. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s so crazy to think that this is the end. It’s been an amazing ride and I’m thankful that all of you tagged along! I hope you all enjoy, and I hope you all had fun!

There’s nothing quite like walking into a 7/11 at 3 in the afternoon, a tiny black box burning a hole in your pocket as you try to think of the right words to say. Shiro could not figure out why this was getting to him so much, it was just a simple question. Yes or no. He’d been ready to do it before, why wasn’t he ready now? He adjusted his prosthetic arm uncomfortably, still getting used to the weight attached to his shoulder as he opened the door carefully.

Pidge looked up from her magazine and smiled. Shiro couldn’t help but be amazed that she had managed to keep this job for as long as she had, since he’d never once come in and seen her do anything but read the same three magazines.

“Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet already?” She teased. Shiro smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck.

“I know I know, but you gotta cut me some slack. Last time didn’t… well, you know.” He frowned a little. His stomach turned, as it usually did when he let his mind wander for too long. “I’m just worried. We only have so much time, and what if I use it all up without even knowing? What if I don’t say what I have to say soon, something bad will happen and-”

“Oh for god sake, Shiro! You’ve waited three years, I’m sure nothing bad could possibly happen in three hours.The worst of it’s over, now we have to keep moving on.” Pidge laughed, though her eyes were entirely serious.

Shiro smiled again, appreciating her attempt. But they both knew that bad things can happen in an instant. Car crashes, beatings, death, then can all happen in the blink of an eye. They’d seen every one of them unfold in mere seconds…

But with Shiro and Keith, the worst was over. It had been over for years now, but that never stopped Shiro from worrying. Even with Lotor long dead and Keith safe with him, he still got worried that one day he’d wake up and find that the life they built together was just a dream. As irrational as it seemed, it was the truth.

“Hey, don’t worry…” Pidge smiled and reached out to pat his arm. “It’s all going to go just fine. Just go with whatever happens. Don’t do that thing where you try to overplan and end up sabotaging yourself. Just let whatever happens happen.”

Shiro nodded, trying to ignore the knot that was tying itself in his stomach. No trying to take control… he could do that. Just… go with the flow.

“Ok, I-I can do that!” He said with false confidence. Pidge smiled widely.

“So did you come to have a long chat, or just needed a quick pep talk?” She asked, raising an eyebrow playfully. Shiro blushed.

“Just the pep talk… I don’t have much time anyway, I’m meeting Keith downtown at 4.” He admitted. He always felt kinda bad for popping in asking for advice and popping out just as quickly as he came… no matter how many times Pidge told him that she doesn’t mind.

“Well, I’m rooting for you!” She gave him a confident thumbs up. “But you might wanna get going Romeo, this is possibly the only date that you actually need to be worried about being late for.”

Shiro smiled. Moments like this made him feel lucky to have the friends he had. Now he just had to hope and pray that his luck would last him through the night.

As he trudged through the snow, bundled up nice and warm in the frigid mid-December air, he felt his phone vibrate faintly through his many layers of clothing. He pulled it out to find a text from Lance.

It was a picture of him and Hunk, giving the camera a thumbs up with the huge, dorky smiles on their faces.Under the picture, the two had typed a message wishing him ‘good luck’ and telling him to call them later to report.

Shiro recognized the background as the cafe that Lance used to work at, but had more recently become the group’s usual hangout spot. They didn’t get to go as much as they would like to, with Pidge trying to finish up her pre-med, Keith taking his online courses along with balancing work and therapy appointments, and the others all busy trying to put their newly earned degrees to use. But still, they tried to meet when they all could.

Shiro smiled widely, staring at the message until his screen was wet with melted snowflakes.

He really did have some of the world’s best friends.

\----------

“Ok but seriously, what’s the occasion?” Keith asked him with a laugh. The two were holding hands, arms swinging between them happily as they strolled downtown, admiring the Christmas lights along the way.

“Nothing, just thought you’d like a break from classes.” Shiro smiled, kissing his boyfriend on the cheek. Keith rolled his eyes playfully.

“I think we both know that’s not what this is about.” He said, swinging his arm a little higher as he walked. Shiro raised an eyebrow.

“Ok fine, you got me! I wanted to spend more time with you!” He said, hoping it would be enough to throw Keith off of his trail. Keith smiled and shook his head.

“First you suggest we go thrift shopping, then we stopped at Altea’s for dinner and you ordered the mobster, and now we’re walking down Main Street. You even made a comment about how you wished the bubble tea place by the park was open during the winter! Doesn’t that sound familiar to you?” Keith pointed out. Shiro grinned wickedly and pulled Keith closer. Of course it rung a bell, it was one of the few moments in those first few months that he genuinely enjoyed thinking about. But of course he couldn’t let Keith know that.

“Hmm… not sure what you mean.” Shiro let go of Keith’s hand and threw his arm over his shoulders instead. “But in all seriousness, there is something I want to show to you.”

“Oh?” Keith said, eyes widened with mock surprise. “And what might that be, Old Timer?”

“You’ll see!” Shiro insisted. “We’re getting close anyway, so you’ve gotta close your eyes!”

“You’re ridiculous!” Keith exclaimed with a laugh, but put his hands up and covered his eyes. He allowed Shiro to put his hand on his lower back and lead him across the street.

“Ok, you can open your eyes now!” He declared dramatically. Keith giggled and put his hands down at his side, opening his eyes wide.

The two stood in front of the large Christmas tree, glittering with twinkling white lights. A blanket of snow draped over the top branches of the tree, draping slightly over the star that perched at the top.

“Do you see it?” Shiro asked. Keith smiled.

“Yeah, it’s the tree. Remember, we came to the lighting ceremony!” Keith looked up, slightly confused but not upset.

“No, look harder.” Shiro insisted. Keith squinted, focusing hard. Shiro knew he only had a 30 seconds at best before Keith turned back around, meaning he had to work quickly.

He lowered himself down on one knee, careful not to slip on the ice. His hand fumbled into his pocket, trying to find his small black box.

“I don’t see it.” Keith said plainly, squinting harder.

“It’s there, just keep looking!” Shiro insisted. He pulled the box out and opened it carefully, looking down at the silver band that sat nestled on top of the black velvet cushioning. He looked back up at Keith, who still had his back turned to him and took a deep breath. No turning back now.

“Shiro, I don’t see-” Keith turned on his heel, but went silent the moment he made eye contact with Shiro, who was suddenly really starting to wonder if this was a good idea.

“Listen, I know that this probably seem like it kinda came out of nowhere… but shit, I don’t think I could wait any longer. Keith, I love you so much, and I want to be with you for the rest of my life.” Shiro poured out his heart, watching Keith’s face for any sign of what he was thinking. Keith just stared blankly, nose red from the cold. “Keith… will you marry me? Please?”

This was a bad idea. That’s all Shiro could think as he waited for Keith’s response. The seconds felt like eternity as he kneeled in the snow, ring settled in his outstretched hands. He went to pull his hands back, to tuck the box back into his pocket and hope that they could forget all of this. But before he could, Keith rushed in towards him, his lips connecting to Shiro’s with a force that sent them both tumbling into a snowbank.

Shiro’s eyes widened in surprise, but pulled Keith closer, kissing him back with just as much force. The two sat there, letting the cold seep in as they held each other. After a few long, glorious minutes, the two pulled back, resting their foreheads against each other.

“So was that a yes?” Shiro asked, breathless but relieved. Keith moved his hands from where they sat on Shiro’s shoulders. 

“Yes!” He kissed him again. Shiro slid the ring onto his finger, not paying attention to which one it is as he played with the hair that poked out of the back of Keith’s hat.

He’d never felt more complete in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now I guess I actually have to focus on my other works now, don’t I?


End file.
